


Yandere Soulmate AU prompts

by RamWrites



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: F/M, Kidnapping, Obsessive Behavior, Other, Possessive Behavior, Soulmate AU, Yandere, non-con, reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:35:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 27,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22893379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RamWrites/pseuds/RamWrites
Summary: Soulmate AU prompts from my Tumblr @RamWrites
Comments: 29
Kudos: 422





	1. Hisoka

“I actually watched a few of your fights, they were pretty entertaining.” You rattled on, grabbing a flowerpot by its edges to lift it up to a nearby shelf. A few specs of dirt fell down on the floor, which made you aware of the growing filth on the floor, mentally noting down to clean a bit more thorough today. “Your ability is pretty cool.”

Hunched over the counter, Hisoka threw you an expression of faked hurt. 

“You mean you knew who I was all along and didn’t even reach out?” He drawled, his eyes following you as you rearranged a few more pots and flowers. “How _cruel_ , y/n.”

You shrugged, picking out a slightly discoloured sunflower from a batch. “I quit fighting a few years ago, and I could tell you wouldn’t really _respect_ that decision.”

Today had started pretty ordinarily: setting up shop, greeting the neighbours and checking on all the newly bought flowers. Things had quickly turned sour when you’d spotted someone watching you, something you hadn’t unlearned even after turning over a more pacifist leaf. 

The man watching you hadn’t been patient, sauntering over to your small flower shop as soon as you’d noticed him, prancing in with enough hostility and confidence to quickly scare away even the densest customer in the store. He’d closed the door and put the closed sign on it, all of which you had watched him do with disinterested eyes.

It wasn’t often assassins came anymore, most people from your past who wanted you dead had either given up or died, so for the largest part, you were just worried about the collateral. The flower shop had just started running, and while money wasn’t really an issue, you didn’t want to rebuild it from scrap. You’d worked hard to create this, and you wouldn’t let anyone take it away, assassin or no.

You’d been a bit surprised when his hostility ended abruptly, though you still felt it lurking underneath his aura, his intrigued and smug stance a bit unconventional for an assassin. 

And then he showed you his wrist.

_Shit._

You’d thought he looked familiar, with his red hair and make-up, but with the number of people that walked by daily and his new outfit, you hadn’t made the connection. Briefly while browsing television channels, you’d watched him fight, watched him _dance_ , watched your soulmate practice what clearly was a passion to him,

Like it used to be to you.

“What a shame that is.” He stated disappointedly, his heels clicking on the tiles of the shop as he came closer and stood near you as you continued doing menial tasks. “I’ve seen _such_ nice footage of you. But even if we weren’t to fight, aren’t you curious about your soulmate? It’s such a nice term, isn’t it.”

A slight chuckle escaped you, laying down the yellow rose in your hand as you turned to face him. “It certainly is, but if you think I’ll believe for a second that you don’t intend to force me to fight you, you’re delusional.”

“Again, how cruel, but I am curious.” As he circled around you, you had to force yourself to not appear hostile in any manner, lest he interpret it as an invitation. Walking away from him, you stood behind the counter, hoping to at least deter him from his physical proximity. “How do you come to such conclusions? You know as little about me as I about you.”

A man in his early forties tried to open the door to the shop and made eye contact with you through the windows as it failed, you shook your head and gave him a thumbs-down, and he nodded and walked away. You really didn’t need the money from this shop, but it still hurt to see a paying customer leave like that because of this stupid situation.

“I don’t know you, sure, but I do know myself.” You replied, following the man’s retreating form outside. Clearly unamused with the lack of attention, Hisoka came back into your full view, your eyes immediately wandering to the heart-shaped earrings he was wearing. “And I can kind of deduct the kind of person you are through that.”

“I see! An interesting way to think about this.” He nearly purred, his voice taking on a tone that made the hairs on your neck stand up, though you didn’t let a bit of it show. “I’m afraid that I won’t be able to accept your answer though.”

A tinge of hostility bled out through his aura, and again you had to focus your entire being to not instinctively respond to it. You had worked so hard to become what you were today, and you wouldn’t let him ruin it. You tried to be a better person than that, which was a hard thing to do considering your body count and the bloodlust that came with such a number.

You were out of shape, combat wise, anyway. He would crush you, and you would spend your last moments being taunted by your soulmate as your floral shop burned to the ground. Knowing these things meant you had to give him absolutely no incentive to fight you, or at least, to stall while you came up with a better plan.

“And why is that?”

He suddenly leaned over the countertop, his face inspecting yours as he drew closer, to which you responded with a step back. A smug, condescending grin grew on his face, and you knew that he had realized your situation. His finger traced a line on the counter, and without any signal pressed down, creating a dent in the full marble top.

“I don’t like being so direct, especially since I would’ve preferred more subtle means,” Hisoka’s voice was clear, full of barely concealed amusement, his finger now teasingly tracing the dent. “But considering your _substantial_ knowledge of my inner workings, you know what lengths I’ll go to if you don’t pay _proper_ attention to me.”

You silenced yourself, holding back every response popping up in your head. 

As if seeing an idea form in his mind, you watched as his expression grew more and more elated, his finger even halting its movements.

Walking slowly around the counter, ever creeping closer, he inspected your every expression, watching it go from a feinted nonchalance to a slight fear. His smile widened with every twitch of your lips, every slight emotion you couldn’t hide, proving him right every step of the way. As he reached you, his arms wrapped themselves around your neck, making you tense up completely.

His cologne was strong now, his smell distinct enough to drown out the various floral smells in the room. Every inch he crept closer, every time one of his nails teasingly poked your skin, every soft feeling of his breath against your cheek, you had to picture your vow and the effort you had undertaken to not resort to violence at every opportunity.

You had changed.

You had to have changed.

As your eyes hardened, Hisoka only increased his efforts, letting his lips just barely miss your skin on their way to your ear. His tongue slowly went over your earlobe, and you felt a shiver racing down your spine. Everything felt uncomfortable, but you could only clench your fists into your clothing as Hisoka merely started enjoying your forced submission.

“How far will you let me go before you fight me?”

Pursing your lips shut, the arms around your neck pushed you closer against his body, your entire body language going rigid as he reduced the already small distance between the two of you to mere atoms. You tried to mull over his question, already feeling your limit approach, when he pressed an open-mouthed kiss to your neck. 

You tried to keep it in, but couldn’t contain a small noise of enjoyment as his body pressed even closer and his kiss touched a spot that made your head immediately blank. Hisoka let go, a small chuckle escaping him. His smug face, so up close, felt even more intense than when he’d let out his immense hostility, which now felt incredibly similar to lust.

“I wish you would just let me have you.” He suddenly stated, lowering his voice, one of his hands sneaking underneath your shirt. “This whole pacifist look doesn’t suit you.”

Realizing that he would take it however far he needed for you to react, you pushed him away, far enough to get your bearings. He didn’t even seem mildly bothered by your action, his smile only increasing now that you’d broken your relative submission. 

“I won’t fight you here.”

With a heavy heart, you had weighed your options, and all resulted in the same event. The words still felt hard to say, feeling like a betrayal to your efforts and trials of the past few years. Hisoka didn’t seem to be interested in giving up, however, so opting to fight him somewhere with fewer civilians seemed like the least terrible option you had.

He took a step closer, his eyes gleaming with joy as he lifted up his hand to his mouth, pretending to ponder your statement. 

“I’m afraid its a bit late for that now, y/n.”

_Huh?_

With a strength you couldn’t match currently, he pressed you against the counter, uncaring of the windows that connected your acts with the entire world. One of his legs pressed between yours, pushing slightly upward, making you nearly buck at the sensation. He accounted for the motion, pressing even closer, meeting your wide-blown eyes with a look of pure glee.

The kisses pressed to your jaw and the hand tracing his own name on your wrist as he held you down, clued you in on an aspect of him you hadn’t accounted for. The way he nearly rutted against your leg, the controlled desperation of his movements and the manic look in his eyes.

He wasn’t here to fight you.

”I have more _urgent_ plans with you.”


	2. Shalnark

There he was again, typing away.

With his beaming smile, his always open laptop and his exposed arms, he was quite easy to pick out of the crowd every night. Normal customers leered at any girl passing their way or drowned themselves in booze at the bar. He seemed to act like he was a writer in a coffee shop however, ordering a coffee in a fucking strip club, typing away on his computer.

Whenever a dancer would approach him, he’d decline, and he only really seemed interested in working during performances. As soon as he was done with whatever he was doing here, he would leave a huge tip and leave without any fuss. Someone who didn’t try anything with the dancers, paid well and was quite good-looking on top of all that?

Needless to say, he was a favorite among the girls.

You on the other hand, had some doubts.

Sure, whenever your fellow dancers went on, he didn’t even look up, feverishly typing on and on without so much as a glance. He acknowledged the waitresses when they brought him his coffee, but apart from that, rarely any reaction. It might be some stupid coincidence, or you were seeing things, but you had a weird feeling.

A feeling that he _was_ watching you.

You didn’t mind it, it was your job after all, but after hearing so many stories about the weird dude sitting in the middle of the room just working, you’d been quite surprised when you felt his eyes on you.

You might have even imagined his smile growing ever so slightly when you met his gaze.

When you told some people backstage, none of them believed you, expressively stating the things they’d done to try and grab his attention. Sasha had even walked straight up to him, intending to give him a real show, only to be very politely but firmly declined. Even now she was still ranting about it, huffing out things like ‘that little shit’ and ‘he _must_ be gay’.

Not wanting to really make a big deal out of it, you’d dropped the subject, laughing along as Sasha continued her tirade.

But tonight, as you were performing, you noticed him in the back. You didn’t let it get to you, swinging around the pole smiling coyly at every guy that sat in front, but you knew he was watching. Not wanting to be put off your rhythm, you only increased your efforts, swaying a bit more with your hips and bending over far enough for everyone to see everything, including him.

Some skeezy guy in sunglasses, whom you had heard some of the other dancers complain about, stood up and tried to put his hands on your ass, but you only leaned back and wiggled your fingers. Playing it off like that was often better than getting angry, as you learned along the way. The man didn’t seem to be convinced though, pouting and instead running his hands along your thigh. 

You couldn’t contain the shiver of disgust and slight nausea at his clammy hands on your thighs.

A security guard in the corner looked at you and you nodded at him, and like that the guy was dragged away. He complained loudly, and you saw a few customers freak out a bit, meaning you’d have to bring your A-game to get the vibe back to normal. Despite the annoyance, you would never have continued to work here if the security wasn’t as tight as it was, not letting any rules be broken. 

Going back into the flow, letting your body flow with the music, you noticed the blonde man in the back had disappeared. 

Sighing slightly, you just continued the dance, teasing the other customers and letting your eyes linger on the ones you deemed most likely to throw some of their money. Your light disappointment at the blonde’s disappearance was short-lived however, as he walked right back in, a bright smile on his face as usual. His gaze drew to yours and you couldn’t resist the urge to wink at him, which made his smile grew a tad wider.

Your dance was about to end, your string filled to the brim with money bills, and you considered it a pretty good run. Doing a final sway of your hips and a drop to the floor, you waved coyly to all the customers, leaving the stage. Some people cheered, whistling at you as you walked off.

Entering the backstage room, you were greeted to the sight of your half-naked fellow dancer Rachel holding up two bra’s, holding them up for judgement. One was a very small, nearly see-through bralette, the other a purple set of a bit more sustenance.

“Yo! Y/n! Which one?” She asked excitedly. She hadn’t worked here very long and was still worrying about a lot of things, her outfit most of all. “I can’t decide.”

Laughing, you pointed at the purple one. “They can’t shovel money in there if it snaps immediately.” Though it had been meant as a small joke, Rachel’s face lit up, as if you said the most intelligent thing ever. 

“You’re completely right!” She said with the most infectious smile on her face. “Ah, before I forget, you apparently have an extra client tonight. Ask the manager first though, I have no idea who it is.”

A bit disappointed, you nodded and Rachel bounced off to the dressing rooms, though you couldn’t imagine why as she was already half-naked anyway. The reason you were disappointed was simple, you wanted to go home and sleep. A private lap-dance paid amazingly though, especially since you set your rates a bit higher than was normal.

Money wasn’t that tight, and you really preferred not having to do private stuff, since that usually lead to the most problems. Dancing was enough for you, and though you didn’t look down on any of your co-workers that did, you really didn’t want to have to touch any of these guys more than you needed. 

Peeking around the corner of your manager’s office, which was a bit too small to really be called such with confidence, you saw the manager bent over paperwork. She was an older woman who used to do this work herself before taking over the entire business from her former boss. With a tongue poking out of her lips, she raked through the papers, typing some things in her laptop.

Knocking on the door, you finally stepped fully into view. 

“Hey boss, there was someone who requested me?” 

Not even looking up, she replied. “Yeah, room three in fifteen minutes. He paid for an hour up-front.” Your eyebrows shot up in surprise. An hour? Who wanted a lapdance of an hour? 

“Are you sure that’s right?”

She chuckled without humor. “That’s what we asked, but he was adamant. He isn’t bad-looking though, so it should be fine. If he tries something, you yell, remember?”

You nodded, knocking the wood once more. Turning around, you walked towards the dressing rooms, intending to at least remove the money from your underwear and fix yourself up before the fucking hour-long lapdance. Opening the door, you tried to imagine what interpretive modern dances you would have to do in order to keep it interesting for a whole ass hour.

The dressing room was pretty empty, with only the cleaning lady whom you hadn’t gotten the chance with yet to formally introduce yourself, though you knew she worked here already for quite a while, so it felt awkward to walk up to her now of all times. Sitting in front of the mirror, you fished the bills out of your string, flattening them slightly before pushing them in a plastic bag inside your bag. 

Inspecting your face, you noticed your make-up had held up pretty good, so re-applying was not really necessary. Your hair was a bit disheveled from hanging upside down and bending over, so you grabbed your curling iron and went to work.

Keeping an eye on the time, you eventually stood up, ready physically though not completely mentally. You kind of hoped the client would get bored halfway and just let you go, though with the insistence he had requested the hour, you weren’t sure if that was realistic.

Pulling your bra up, you walked up to room three, the skeevy music and red curtains always a bit much for your tastes. It was common practice for strip clubs though, so you guessed it came with the package. 

Opening the room, you were surprised to see the client already seated on the red cushioned sofa, the soft-dimmed lights making his face barely able to make out, though when you realized who sat in front of you, you had to double-take.

The blonde, even now, had his phone out, his laptop safely stashed away in his bag beside him and a cup of coffee in front of him. Maybe he was a nerd that rarely came outside and did this out of a sort of peer-pressure? He didn’t look like that though, his easy smile and confident eyes not giving you the vibe of someone unfamiliar with women.

As soon as you opened the door and looked at him, he finished his typing and put away his phone, his attention now fully on you. Mentally flipping a switch, you walked to the table and leaned on it in a sultry manner, seductively pushing a strand of hair behind your ear.

To your surprise, he laughed at your actions, a teasing and clear laugh without any malice. 

“You don’t have to do all that, y/n.” He stated, his eyes twinkling. “Though I did notice you being very good at that sort of thing.” 

For a moment you really weren’t sure what to do and your darting eyes only caused another wave of chuckles to come out of the blonde man in front of you.

“What do you want then?” You asked, still keeping your voice a bit seductive, though you didn’t get the feeling he was here for the lapdance he ordered. 

“Just sit down for now.”

You couldn’t help the small amount of indignation mixed with relief bubbling up at you. Relief for not having to think of an hour’s worth of moves, indignation as your small pride as a stripper was completely wasted. His eyes didn’t even wander to your chest as you puffed it out, instead steadily focusing on your eyes.

You sat down, crossing your legs, raising your high heels up. 

He drank a sip from his cup, wincing a bit, which was the first change in expression you ever saw of him. “Do you know that the coffee you serve is terrible?”

A light laugh escaped you. “We aren’t exactly specialized in coffee, and most people don’t order that sort of thing here.”

He put the cup back on its saucer, pushing it away from him, leaning back into the couch.

“But if you wanted to complain about our coffee, I think a word to our waitresses would have been more direct than hiring me for an hour.” By now you dropped the seductress act nearly completely, noticing that he really wasn’t biting the bait. “A bit less expensive as well.”

“Mmmh, that’s true.” He hummed, his smile resurfacing. “But I didn’t really hire you for any of that either.”

Leaning over the table, you rested your face on your arm, perking up an eyebrow at him. As your eyes drifted over him, you realized he was a bit more muscular than he seemed from a distance, his biceps clear in sight with his short-sleeves. It seemed out of place with his kind face, and his clear obsession with electronics, so you really couldn’t get a read on him.

“What then for?” 

He hummed a bit, mimicking your pose by leaning on his elbows. “What do you do during the day?”

“That’s a bit private don’t you think?”

“I’m just curious. I won’t ask anything you wouldn’t tell a stranger on the street.” He continued, his air cheerful. “We can also just sit here, but then you would need to wait about fifty minutes.”

A bit stubbornly, you leaned back and crossed your arms, which didn’t even make him mad. He just chuckled again and grabbed his phone, resuming whatever he was doing on that thing. 

It wasn’t against the rules to share things about your personal life, but it was against common sense. People who you met during work hours rarely had good intentions, even if this particular one tried to hide that. Stalkers and creeps were a bit too common in this business. But despite all these considerations, if he really intended to keep you here for the hour regardless if you spoke, you decided sharing small details and lying about the rest would be fine.

“I’m a student.”

He looked up, a beaming smile sent your way. He sat up straighter, returning the phone to his pocket. “What do you study?”

Clicking your tongue, you decided to at least make a game out of it. “You get one question, I get one question. Take it or leave it.” 

His eyes lit up.

“Sure! What do you want to know?”

“Why did you get an hour here with me?” The question was still on the forefront of your mind, still not being able to comprehend why he would pay nearly a week’s salary on an hour of your time while not even letting you do your job.

“Easy. I wanted to get to know you.” He responded, still leaning over the table. “Staring from a distance feels a bit creepy at times.”

“Why do you want to get to know me?”

“That’s a new question, I get one first.” He interjected, suddenly looking up as if thinking hard on a question. “I got one. Why do you do this work?”

“I can’t work during the day time, and this pays very well.” You responded, looking away to escape his gaze for a second, expecting a judgemental one. “Why do you want to get to know me?”

“We’re soulmates, so I wanted to see what you’re like.” 

At that, you turned a baffled look at him, which he responded to with a laugh. Despite his laugh, you didn’t get the feeling he was kidding. At least, he didn’t think he was being ridiculous himself, which you couldn’t fathom why.

“You know that falling in love with a stripper does not mean they’re you’re soulmate, right?” 

He fumbled a bit with the buttons on his shirt, not looking the slightest bit offended by your words. “Oh that’s not what I meant, but it’s okay if you don’t understand.”

You were about to respond when the door opened, your boss’s face coming into view. She had clearly expected to see a different sight, but as expected of an experienced manager, she switched gears within seconds. 

“Y/n, can you come with me for a second? The police are here.” After giving that message she diverted her gaze to your client. “I’ll give you a partial refund, but she will need to leave.”

She tried her best to give an apologetic look, which screamed fake, and she turned around. “I’ll give you five minutes to round this up.”

You stood up, incredulous. “The police? What happe-”

“They came earlier than expected. It seems I underestimated the response time a bit. That’s too bad though, I had a lot more questions for you.” The blonde behind you remarked. He stood up as well, now standing face to face with you, grabbing your hand. “Let’s continue though! I’m really curious now.”

“What do you mean ‘earlier than expected’?” You said, your words a bit rushed. “What happened?”

As if his default setting, his face beamed at you, his hand squeezing yours tighter. “I guess it was your turn. They found the guy I killed.”

Your eyes blew open, trying to take a step back, choking on the words trying to come out of you.

He pouted slightly at your reaction. “The Boss did say dishonesty was probably better, but if you’re my soulmate, shouldn’t you be okay with all that stuff?” 

He pulled you closer, pulling you in a forced sort of embrace, his hands wrapped tightly around yours and for a few seconds, you struggled to even breathe. His head was tucked into the nook of your neck, sighing softly even as you were wondering if this is how you were going to die. Black pooled at the sides of your vision, your lack of oxygen quickly making you lose consciousness.

“I guess you’ll need some time to get used to it.”

The sirens in the background, the soft smell of his cologne, the tacky red curtains and skeezy music all fell away as your vision turned completely dark, your body limp in his grip. As soon as Shalnark noticed you had fainted, he re-adjusted his grip, holding you bridal style, his signature smile still on his face.

“I’ll keep you with me until you do.”


	3. Phinks

“It’s chaos out there, y/n. I’d suggest you run.” 

Chuckling at your co-worker’s distraught expression, you grabbed your uniform out of the locker. It was more an evening dress than a uniform, the club you worked in priding itself on its exclusive and aesthetically pleasing appearance, though you knew most people came here for the relatively cheap shots. 

“Shit, Layla, that bad?” You responded, undoing the buttons on your own clothes.

“Bad is an understatement, they’re like animals. One dude grabbed me by the neck because I wasn’t fast enough with his Jaegerbomb, imagine that!” 

You sent a worried look toward her. She looked fine, but that must’ve shaken her up. “You serious? Are you okay?”

She nodded, waving away your concern. “I’ll be fine, I’m done anyway. Just make sure those fuckers stay behind the bar, okay?”

You nodded at her, and the petite brunette grabbed her bag and turned towards the door. “When’s your next shift?” She added, gearing up to leave.

“Tomorrow again, sadly.” 

“Hahaha, rip, I’m free then, so I guess I’ll see you on Friday.” Sending you a last smile, she walked out of the door, shouting out a last ‘bye!’ as you heard the back door open.

Fixing yourself in the golden ‘uniform’ was easy enough, just throwing it over your head and fixing the buttons in front and making the bow at the back. You tidied up your hair in a nearby mirror and applied some water-proof mascara, getting some on your cheek. It was still wet, so a few swipes managed to clear most of it off your face.

Lastly, you added the earplugs, which were a necessity in this line of business if you wanted to keep your hearing. They had been pretty expensive, but you managed to hear people talking while not being blasted by a bass-heavy techno song.

Looking in the mirror, you sighed and realized you had to start now, no excuses left to stay in the peace of the locker room. Layla was usually a bit overdramatic, but if she really had been grabbed by her neck, it had to be a bit weird out. Normal customers weren’t that bad.

Walking to the front and past your boss whom you greeted with a small wave, ignoring the grumble of ‘you’re late’, you walked through the kitchen toward the bar. The music started getting louder, playing some cheesy pop song that was all the hype now. You didn’t mind such music, but working here nearly every night ruined a lot of music for you.

Greeting the kitchen staff, who only barely looked up to acknowledge you, you opened the door connected to the back of the bar. Immediately you were greeted by an enormous crowd of people each shouting their orders and holding out their credit cards. Layla hadn’t been exaggerating.

The dance floor was so crowded, people kept walking into one another, which was always fertile soil for fights. The security personnel seemed to have just as busy a night as you were going to have, holding people apart and denying access to loads of people, who didn’t seem pleased by being told no.

Your fellow bartenders, a tall man named Yorn and an even taller woman named Sheon, were furiously pouring drinks and entering orders into the computer. As soon as they both spotted you, you were treated with the most ecstatic looks of relief you had seen in a while.

Pouring a rum and coke, Sheon nearly pinked away a tear. “Finally some help!” 

“It’s about time, we were nearly dying out here.” Yorn added nearly as emotional, putting away some change. 

It was hard to hear them above the music, but by now you managed to read lips and interpret the sounds you did hear enough to get by. Not intending to stand around, you walked to the first customer you saw, taking their order and started working.

Time went pretty fast, the number of customers quite literally forcing you to never be bored for even a second. It wasn’t till 4 that the crowd started diminishing a bit, some people clearly too drunk or too tired to continue the party.

As you were going round the dancefloor, picking up some glasses people left behind, the music changed from a rather slow tune to a crowdpleaser. Cursing at the DJ mentally, you felt the crowd around you go wild, jumping and dancing insanely enthusiastic. This was always funny to watch behind the bar, but with your arms filled with glasses, this was pretty dangerous. As if predicted, as soon as you managed to get by the majority of the crowd, you felt some guy pushing your back. 

Falling forward, you dropped all your glasses, bracing yourself for the impact with the ground.

Closing your eyes shut, the recognizable crash of glass could be heard even over the music. Surprisingly, you didn’t reach the ground, your hand having been grabbed last minute. Pulling you up, you turned around to your savior.

It was a man that had grabbed your wrist, a tall blonde man wearing a tracksuit, his hair slicked back. His eyes stood pretty intense, and he was tall enough to tower over most of the people surrounding him. Your face slightly heated up at his gaze, to your own surprise. This wasn’t usually your type of guy, but he really managed to pull it off, and the fact that he had just saved you made the fact that he seemed pretty intimidating fade away immediately.

“Thank you so much! That would’ve hurt like a bitch.” You shouted, leaning toward him so he could hear you. “I’ll have to clean up this glass, but come meet me at the bar, I’ll get you some free drinks.”

A bit of a flabberghasted expression appeared on his face, but he recovered quickly, nodding. Shooting him one last smile you turned around, looking for the security personnel who were already walking towards you with a broom in hand. The crowd had dispersed around the glass, which made it quite easy to clean up. You didn’t really see where your mysterious savior went, but when you finished up, he was nowhere in sight.

After dealing with that, you returned to the bar, hoping he’d understood what you had shouted. Giving out free drinks was a bit against the rules, but you’d break those rules anytime someone saved you from eating glass, and it was not like your boss actually would notice.

To your joy, he was standing at the bar, talking to some other blonde guy and a smaller dark-haired guy, who both seemed to be in the process of teasing your savior. It wasn’t hard to see, taking into account the teasing smiles on their faces, and the aggravated aggression on his. Walking up to them, ignoring some other customers _who hadn’t saved_ you from a glass death, you shot the group a large smile.

“So what do you want?”

The smaller dark-haired man’s gaze narrowed a bit, not even attempting to hide the fact that he was annoyed by your interruption. The smaller blonde guy merely closed his eyes in amusement, not saying anything. This left the slightly embarrassed tracksuit guy to respond. 

“Whatever will get these guys drunk, so I don’t have to hear their fucking whining anymore.” The sentence started out pretty controlled but rose in volume as the teasing grins on his friends’ face returned. 

“How drunk exactly are we talking.” 

A slight smirk appeared on his face, making your face heat up a bit, though you hoped no one would notice. It was hot enough in here anyway, right? 

“Give us your worst.”

Looking away scanning the assortment of bottles and liquors at your disposal, you mulled over the drinks you could make, before nodding wisely.

“I think I know something.” Turning around, you left them to their conversation. 

Grabbing three glasses, you grabbed some of the home-brewed vodka the boss liked to make in his free time. Normally, it was like drinking pure kerosene, but mixed with some orange juice it became drinkable and was labeled ‘one-hit-ko’-juice by your fellow bartenders. Sheon shot you an incredulous look as you poured some in the glasses, before bursting out into laughter as you wiggled your eyebrows back at her.

Turning back to the group, they’re eyes were focused on you as you put the drinks in front of them. It didn’t look all that intimidating, an orangy liquid in a rather short glass, filling it to the brim. The odor of nearly pure alcohol was present though, and the shorter blonde guy perked up as he picked up his glass.

“This smells awful!” He cheerfully said before downing the entire glass. His face didn’t even flinch, setting the glass down with the exact same expression. “Hahaha, that must be close to 70 percent, right?”

Not to be outdone, your savior also downed his in one shot, his eyes focused you. The smaller dark-haired man didn’t seem so suicidal and took a small sip before taking the glass with him back to the sitting area. 

The slightly smaller blonde man, who was still smiling profusely, put his glass back on the bar and stuck his thumb out at you, which you laughingly reciprocated. He then turned around and followed his dark-haired friend, wherever he had went. Being the last one left, the blonde put his glass back as well. He seemed to want to say something, but didn’t and turned around as well.

You didn’t get the chance to really say something, and the other customers cramming the bar didn’t allow for you to really call out to him. 

Slightly saddened, you returned to working, letting the rest of the night play out. You didn’t see the group for the rest of the night, and you assumed they had left, which wasn’t unnatural considering it was 5 am. The club drained slowly, a few drunks needing to be dragged out and a few party girls convinced that the club had to close sometime. 

Cleaning up the last broken glasses, returning all the stools to their original position and mopping up the spilled drinks, the club nearly seemed normal again. As soon as you closed the door Sheon and Yorn waved their goodbyes, leaving you to close up. You’d worked here the longest out of all of them, and the boss didn’t trust rookies with closing up, so you were tasked with it nearly every day.

You hoped they would just hurry up and win his trust because you really needed a good night’s sleep now and again.

Turning off the lights, you retreated to the locker room. You laid out your normal clothes as you undid the buttons on your dress, nearly starting on the bow as you suddenly heard the sound of the door opening. Turning towards the entrance of the locker room, thinking it to be Sheon or Yorn having forgotten something, your eyes widened in surprise as you saw a familiar tracksuit wearing man with blonde slicked back hair.

He leaned against the doorframe, his legs crossed as he looked straight at you. 

“What are you doing in here?” Completely confused you tilted your head. “Didn’t you see the ‘personnel only signs?” 

His eyes went down a bit, before suddenly completely averting as a small blush settled on his face. Looking down yourself, you realized your bra was completely visible, having been changing. Quickly closing some buttons, your face turned nearly completely red.

“Your name is y/n l/n, right?” 

“Yeah, what about it?” You replied, a bit short as your face was still burning and you still didn’t know what the fuck he was doing in here. He didn’t seem like a bad guy to you, but he was cornering you after work in a place he shouldn’t be, which was a little if not hugely suspicious. “How do you even know that?”

Unfolding his arms, he held out his left arm, and in a motion that made your heart start hammering in your ears, he lifted up his sleeve, revealing an upside-down soulmate mark of a name. You couldn’t read it from this distance, so you set a few hesitant steps in his direction, but within a meter or so you could make out the familiar lines and letters of your name. 

He was your soulmate.

What the fuck.

Mentally screaming, you tried to remain composed. “So.. you’re Phinks?” 

You held up your left arm, holding up the mark for him to see as well. His eyes glanced over it, before meeting back your gaze. From a tidbit awkward and embarrassed, his entire expression had changed to one you couldn’t really read. His eyes bore into you, searching for something, and his hand went up to lightly touch your cheek. You leaned back from the contact, your brows furrowing slightly.

“This is still a bit weird, though.” You instead said, a bit nervous as an irritated look passed over his face. “How did you get in here? And how did you know my name?”

Stepping a bit closer to you, which made you instinctually step a bit back as well, he replied. “I saw your wrist when I grabbed you, and I got in here by breaking the front door.”

What.

He stated it without any hesitation, nor any guilt, and as silence set in for a few seconds before you burst out in laughter, any tense air disappearing. The fact that he broke the door down was awful, and you were sure you would get shit for it tomorrow, but the thought of him waiting all night nervously with his friends in order to approach you before finally kicking down a door was pretty funny.

And despite that he was towering over you and pretty intimidating, the fact that he was your soulmate meant that he wouldn’t hurt you right?

An irritated look now firmly set itself on his features, tensing up a bit. “You’re laughing at me?” 

“Nah, just think it’s funny.” You said, still chuckling a bit. “My boss will freak when he sees that tomorrow.”

For a moment he looked genuinely surprised, but he recovered himself pretty quickly. Silence returned, and the absurdity of the situation set in. What was the next step? Were you supposed to say or do something? He looked just as lost, clearly not having thought past this point.

Slightly twiddling your thumb, you had an idea. “Uhm, well, do you want to-” 

You had been about to ask if he wanted to exchange numbers or something, but he’d reached his own conclusion of the next step as he stepped forward and smashed his lips on yours. For a few moments, you were completely baffled, but you instinctively went along with him, even allowing his arms to wrap around you.

Normally, you would never allow anything like this to happen so quickly, but after an entire night day-dreaming of the very man kissing you and him turning out to be your soulmate, you didn’t mind it. 

You were a bit shorter than him, and he had to bend over a bit to actually kiss you this intensely. Annoyed by the fact himself, the arms wrapped around you lifted you up and held you against the nearby locker. You yelped when your skin hit the cold metal of the locker, but his mouth was on yours just as fast, muffling your protests. 

Your own hands wrapped around his neck, and as you felt heat course through your body, you deepened the kiss further. As soon as your fingers slightly curled into his hair, he let out a soft growl and his hands that now supported your bottom pushed you up slightly higher, making you nearly moan into his mouth.

Suddenly taking a breather, he inspected the no-doubt disheveled mess you had become from just kissing. You were out of breath, your cheeks reddened, and you were sure your heart was about to burst out of your chest with the pace it was going at. He, on the other hand, didn’t even seem mildly out of breath, the sheer fire burning in his eyes the only thing giving away his current actions.

“I want you to tell me now if you want this because I’m not really good at quitting half-way.” For a second you thought he was just being considerate, but the seriousness of his gaze made you realize he wasn’t kidding. If you didn’t back out now, he wasn’t going to listen later. “So speak up.”

He could as well have not asked, as you weren’t even close to doubting your actions. The way his fingers curled in your skin, how he pushed you against the locker and the sheer intensity of his kissing had blown out every rational thought in your mind. “I-I don’t mind.”

A big smirk grew on his face.

“Hope you don’t regret it later.”


	4. Chrollo Part 1

You mentally made a note for yourself to tell the janitor to oil the wheels on the cart. The cart was filled to the brim with books, and every time you had to turn, the front right wheel loudly protested the action. It wasn’t too loud, but in a library, silence was preferred, and you didn’t want to be seen breaking the very rules you enforced on the people visiting.

It was a busy afternoon, people of every walk of life walking about the rather large library. Most of the visitors today were students, but you also noticed some families with young children ready to pick out some easy books and other people browsing the stands. There was some small murmur among the people, parents asking their children what they wanted to read next or people asking small questions to your colleagues, but it was quiet enough.

Your entire cart was filled with returned novels, most of them historical dramas. A new romance show had swept the nation and suddenly every man, woman, and child wanted to read medieval and renaissance romance books, though you doubted many of them actually finished reading considering the quick return of all of them.

Pushing your cart further, you asked a few people to part in order for you to pass, eventually reaching the dreaded romance novel section. You didn’t dislike this part of the job, but this section was notorious for people putting books in the wrong order.

You got to work, putting one book in after the other, and after ten minutes you had already finished putting away nearly half of the contents of the cart.

It was at this time that you noticed through the bookcase some new visitors sitting at a table nearby, a man wearing a long black fur-lined coat and his hair slicked back, and a pink-haired woman simply wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a vest.

They were sitting casually, and you wouldn’t have even noticed them if they didn’t speak in a normal tone of voice. You couldn’t understand what they were saying but considering the number of people surrounding them trying to work, they were speaking a bit too loudly. This part was actually your least favorite, as you really didn’t like having to confront people all the time. Whenever it was a calm day, you would ignore such situations, but the surrounding people struggling to work forced you to actually do your job.

Leaning around the bookcase, you tried to make eye contact with either of them, which they caught on surprisingly quick. The woman first made eye contact back, her eyes narrowing slightly. The man was quick to follow, though as soon as he made eye contact with you, his eyes blew open with something akin to surprise.

You lifted your fingers to your lips, and to your delight, the woman made a curt nod.

Smiling, you lowered your hands, intending to get back to work, though the man was still staring straight at you. Maybe he recognized you from somewhere, though you could swear for a fact that you didn’t go to school with him, he was handsome enough that you would’ve remembered him.

As you turned back to the cart, you heard them continue their conversation in a lower volume, though the woman made a loud sound of surprise at something the man had said. Glancing through the bookcase, you wondered if you needed to step in again. Luckily for you, besides that outburst, they continued to speak through hushed whispers.

Wondering what all that was about, you continued emptying the cart, a sigh escaping you as you filled out the last one. Stepping back, your eyes scanned the shelves, seeing if everything was in the right place. You only had to move a few books to their rightful place before you were really done.

The only thing you had left to do was gather some books people had reserved, placing them behind the counter for pick-up. After that, it was time to go home and spend the rest of the night reading and drinking tea. A soft smile formed on your face as you imagined the soft space on the couch you’d occupy, a soft blanket covering you and a steaming cup of tea in your hand.

Your eyes glanced at the man and woman, though to your surprise they had left. You hadn’t even noticed them stopping talking, or even leaving, which confused you a bit. But well, you couldn’t keep an eye on everything, so you probably just didn’t pay attention for a while.

Seeing the finish line in sight, you grabbed the cart with a renewed vigor, pushing it forward.

You didn’t see the pair the rest of your shift, or the day after. It wasn’t for another week that you actually saw the man again, sitting in one of the reading corners with some philosophical or non-fiction book. His eyes followed you as soon as you came close, and a few times he’d asked you trivial questions like where the next volume or an earlier edition of a book was.

You hadn’t seen him today, which was both good and bad. You liked it when he was there, as he was always polite and quiet after the first incident. He smiled at you, and sometimes when the entire library was nearly empty he would ask you questions and start conversations. You never really had enough time to really get into one with him, your co-workers always keeping an eye on slacking employees, but there was one small conversation that still made your heart bump in your chest.

The library had been nearly desolate at that time, and he was among the only ones still reading. You’d passed him while fixing some issue with the computers and he’d laughingly initiated a conversation, seeing your despair with the program. Seeing as it was so slow that day, you’d responded with a smile and asked what he’d been reading all day.

It was something rather romantic, something you hadn’t deemed him the type for. When you voiced this opinion, he’d laughed and agreed with you. You were close to leaving again, when he suddenly asked something, smiling softly at the cover of the book he was holding.

_“Do you believe in soulmates?”_

When you had responded that you didn’t really believe in such things, he’d closed his eyes, mulling your answer over. After that response, he seemed to be keen on returning to his reading, so you told him goodbye and returned to your work. In your head you wondered if you had said something wrong, wondering what he had wanted you to say instead. It was a bit of a stupid thing to ponder about, but the small crush you were developing made you think of the stupidest things.

Those conversations didn’t happen often though, and weeks passed with few words and lots of secret glances send both ways.

Right now you were done with your shift, ready to make some quick dinner at home and relax the rest of the night. Wondering if you needed to stop by the grocery store before going home, you walked toward your car. It was pretty dark outside already, winter setting in pretty early for your tastes. When you reached your car and stepped inside, you put the key in the ignition. Twisting it around, pressing the clutch down, you expected the familiar rumble, yet no noise came out.

Your brows furrowing, you tried again and again, only for the same result to happen. Cursing, you grabbed your bag, stepping outside your car. You’d just closed the library, so no one there would be able to help you.

Throwing the hood of the car up, you wondered why you even bothered when the engine came in sight. You had little to none expertise with these things, not to mention the darkness obscuring the view. The only upside you could think off of doing this was that you could rule out the car exploding or something. There was no smoke, and you didn’t see fluids in places where fluids shouldn’t be.

Mentally kicking yourself, you didn’t even notice someone walking up to you until he stood right beside you.

“Are you having difficulties?” A voice quipped beside you, making you nearly yell out immediately. Noticing it was your favorite visitor calmed you down instantly, though you sent him an incredulous look.

“Please don’t sneak up on me.”

His smile didn’t falter in the slightest, his hands in his pockets. “I apologize, I thought you noticed me earlier. Do you need a ride home?”

Part of you was excited, this was the perfect opportunity to get to know him and maybe even learn his name, but another part of you was a bit skeptic. You could like him all you wanted, but there was no way a guy like that would even give you the time of day in that way. It was also late, and he’d shown up out of nowhere, even though the library had been closed for an hour already.

“No thanks, I’ll call someone.” Making up your mind, you sent him an apologetic smile. “Thank you for the offer though, I appreciate it.”

“Do you mind if I wait till your picked up then? Wouldn’t want to leave you alone in the dark here.”

“Sure, thanks.”

Opening your bag, you scoured it for your phone, only to be unable to find it. You opened the car door, scanning the inside of the door and the passenger seat, only to find nothing. Checking your pockets again, even though you knew your phone wasn’t in there, you finally came to terms with the fact that you couldn’t find your phone.

“Ah, I seem to have left my phone inside.” You stated in a deadpan voice. The alarm was fully active now, and turning it off without any real incentive would only cause you trouble at work. You could already hear the sneer of your manager, making comments on your ‘addiction to electronics’.

With a slightly apologetic expression you turned to your now knight in shining armor.

“I really apologize, but do you have a phone I could borrow?”

“I’m afraid not.” He replied, a quasi-worried expression on his face. “But as I initially said, I can take you home.”

Not feeling like waiting outside for hours in this cold, or walking all the way home, you nodded and thanked him profusely. He waved off the gratitude, leading you with him to his car, which made you double-check when he approached it. You didn’t know a lot about cars as stated before, but you weren’t blind, and this was a very nice car.

Sitting in the passenger seat, you did your best to make yourself as small as possible, feeling as if you were ruining the nice leather seat just by sitting in it. The man chuckled slightly, turning the ignition on. As he drove off the parking lot and you told him the address, you realized you didn’t even know his name.

“I’m y/n, by the way.” You began. “Though you might have read that off my id clip already.”

He didn’t respond immediately, but his eyes glanced over you before returning to the road. After taking another turn, he spoke.

“My name is Chrollo.” He replied. “And yes, I was aware of your name.”

The thought that he had paid attention to such small things made your heart bump slightly in your chest, and you tried to secretly glance at him. For a while, a comfortable silence sat between you. The scenery of traffic and suburbia flashed past you, and as he took the same route you usually did, you wondered if he also lived in the area.

“Not many people know this short-cut.” You said as the car slowed down in front of a stoplight. “You must come here often.”

“I am often in the neighborhood, yes.” If you didn’t know any better, you would’ve said that he was laughing at you, a slight mirth present in his voice. You didn’t want to pry, however, he was already nice enough to take you home. You didn’t want to be rude.

The first wrong turn you merely thought of it as him taking another route, but when he went a whole different direction you asked aloud if he actually did know where he was going, in the most polite way you could think of. He merely smiled at you, making a teasing comment that you didn’t know this shortcut. A few more minutes you’d remained silent, but when you realized he was going straight to the highway, you intervened.

“Not to be rude, but I really think you’re going the wrong way.” You said, a bit more pressing than the last comment you made. “My house is on the other side of this area.”

“I know.”

It only took for those two words for your blood to freeze over.

“Are you making a detour?” You asked, voice a bit more shaken. “Can you tell me where you’re going?”

His hand went over you, toward the glove box, opening it. To your horror, you saw a needle lying right in the middle of the compartment, with cap and all. Before you found the chance to respond or even blink, you realized he already stuck the needle in your arm, pushing in the fluids.

“Wh-a, huh-“ You barely managed to react as the sting of the needle shifted into a loss of feeling in your entire arm, spreading rapidly to your other limbs. Even your head started to feel heavy, your eyelids fluttering.

Despite it all, you didn’t panic, you rather felt extremely let down. You didn’t know what you’d expected from him, but the prospects you associated with drugging were not on that list. Every sweet glance, small smile and witty comment he’d send you in the library all flashing in front of your eyes as you met his now darker gaze. 

He didn’t really show any reaction to his actions, but he held up his hand for you to see, though the red thread spanning between his ring finger and yours wasn’t visible to you, his eyes still focused on the road. 

“You might not understand it now, but I am doing this out of _love_.”

Those were the last words you heard before everything went black.


	5. Chrollo Part 2

The sight of stretched out landscapes was extraordinary, fields of green and blue brimming with life, creating a view that truly filled any human being with awe. You had only seen this view in pictures, never having been in a high enough altitude to truly witness it like this.

Your hands pressed down on the window, the heat of your skin immediately melting the foggy layer that had laid on the glass. You were sure your eyes were wide open, taking in everything.

While you’d traveled before, somehow an airship had never been part of it, so when the buzzing of the engine had awoken you, you’d only been able to gaze out in wonder.

Waking up alone in a locked cabin was scary, certainly considering the rather terrifying events that had lead up to this. It was hard to immediately succumb to fear when you’d rarely awoken feeling so well-rested, and had to deal with the excitement of being in an airship.

Nevertheless, the entire situation with Chrollo, as he had introduced himself as, still made no sense. He had offered to drive you home from the library, but as soon as you noticed him going the wrong direction, he had drugged you, saying all kinds of crazy things. The memory felt fuzzy, as if your mind was filled with cotton, which was probably a side-effect of the drug.

He had said something about ‘ _doing this in the name of love’_ , which you found ridiculous. Who did he love that needing to kidnap you would win their favor? You also couldn’t really think of anything you would be able to help him with, so the entire notion felt odd to you.

A small voice in your head murmured a different reason for his phrasing, but you pushed it down before it could even manifest.

You looked around, but besides the blanket you had when you woke up, there was nothing else in the cabin. The door had no window to break, and there were no loose objects anywhere. Your pockets had been emptied.

Safe to say, there was little for you to do but wait.

The soft features of the man that had kidnapped you flashed in your mind, making you furrow your brows. This situation was terrifying, but considering his kind and calm attitude in the library all that time, you couldn’t picture him as a serial killer. He was probably mentally ill and needed professional help, and so you hoped you could contact the authorities as soon as possible and let him receive that help.

Calming yourself by looking at the view and staying optimistic, you didn’t even notice the soft click of the lock, the cabin door slowly opening.

“Enjoying the view?”

You shocked up, twirled around and stood face to face with the man in question. He seemed calm and was carrying a tray of food, probably intended for you. Noticing he wasn’t acting aggressively, you meekly shrugged, nervously fiddling with your hands.

“I’ve never flown before.” You said, sitting down at the right side of the cabin. You tried to appear relaxed, but it was a bit hard when Chrollo followed every movement you made with keen eyes, closing the door behind him and sitting down opposite of you.

“I see.” He said, putting the tray on the small table in between the two of you. The food he had brought contained a bowl of soup, a small loaf of bread, some fruit yoghurt and a glass of water. You hadn’t realized your hunger till now but felt your stomach growl at the sight. “Did you sleep well?”

“Uhm… I guess.” You said, glancing outside the window. “Can I ask you where we are going?”

“Yorknew.” Chrollo said, pushing the tray closer to you. “I have some business there. You can start eating, I brought it for a reason.”

Yorknew was halfway across the country, about fifteen-hours of travel. You’d been there once before, by train, but hadn’t been expecting to see the city ever again, certainly not in circumstances like these.

“Oh.” You awkwardly said, reaching out for the bowl of soup. “T-this isn’t drugged again right?”

It was meant as a joke, but with you feeling as uncomfortable as you did, it had come out rather serious. He chuckled nonetheless and shook his head. Escaping the awkward interaction, you focused on eating, taking a few spoon-fulls of the soup.

“You’re being quite calm about all this.” He suddenly said, crossing his legs as he watched you eat. “I had expected you to be a bit more _unruly_ , I guess?”

You swallowed some soup. “I honestly think I’m in too much panic to really react to anything right now.”

“Ah. Then your unruliness is only being postponed.” He smiled, leaning back in his seat, not lifting his eyes off you. “But if it makes it any easier, I promise not to hurt you.”

Your next words flew out before you could stop them. “Like you promised to drive me home?”

Chrollo’s expression didn’t change, calming you down somewhat. Your plan was to play along and alert the authorities as soon as possible. Provoking him didn’t serve to any purpose, only endangering you right now.

“That might have been a small lie, yes.” He immediately admitted, not at all seeming guilty by the confession. “But if you still feel so strongly about your home in a few months, I’ll be sure to take you back for a while.”

Putting down the empty bowl, you grabbed the glass of water, taking occasional sips.

“In the car you said something before I passed out, saying you were kidnapping me in the name of love?” You started, very hesitant in your choice of words. “Why would kidnapping me help you in any way with that? Why would the one you love need me?”

Your words had been fumbled, but you hoped the main message got through.

Chrollo had been in the middle of removing the bandana from his forehead, but froze as soon as you finished speaking. Silently finishing his motions, you could suddenly see a forehead tattoo you hadn’t seen before, an intricate symbol that you would probably have searched up in the library databases if you’d seen it before any of this.

Laying down the fabric, he took a deep breath, for the first time looking a bit taken off guard.

You hadn’t said something dumb, had you?

 _“Oh dear_.” He said, letting out a short laugh at your frowning expression. “Can I ask you something, y/n?”

Hesitating, you nodded.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?” Choking on the water, you put down the glass. When you stopped coughing, Chrollo still looked patiently at you to answer him, though he didn’t seem all too shocked with the shake of your head. “I see.”

“Why do you want to know that?” You said, your face growing redder by the second.

“Because you’re my soulmate.” He stated matter-of-factly. “It’s the entire reason for bringing you along.”

“Oh.” You said. “You also asked me about something like that last week. Was.. that the same thing?”

He nodded. “It was.”

You felt too curious not to ask. “How do you know?”

Chrollo raised his left hand and lifted only his ring finger. You didn’t know what he meant by the gesture. “There is a red thread between us. You can’t see it.”

“Ah… so like the red string of fate.”

“Exactly.”

You already had some suspicions on him being mentally ill, and what he was currently saying didn’t help his case. You tried to ignore the warmth the word ‘soulmate’ had lit within you and decided to focus back on your objective, thinking of what to say next. Your efforts turned out to be unnecessary, as he decided to fill the silence himself.

He started some small-talk, questions on how you had started working in the library, what you did there and what you wanted to do later. You didn’t know how smart it was to divulge all this information to the person that kidnapped you, but you also couldn’t think of anything he could use it for. He already knew where you lived, your name, and he had your phone.

Stories about your wish to someday become an author was probably not that important in comparison.

You tried to ask some questions back, as was polite, but he deflected all of them. You asked where he was from, or what his business in Yorknew was, and he merely responded with some philosophical question on what ‘home’ and ‘work’ really meant, trying to tempt you in answering your own questions.

After an hour of a quite one-sided conversation, you tried your shot.

“Have you… have you told anyone you were going to kidnap me?” You hated the way it sounded and cursed yourself for your word choice. In your mind, it had sounded so subtle and inconspicuous.

“I have,” He said to your surprise. “but I wouldn’t count on any of their help.”

“No, I wasn’t counting on anything like that.” You said, and he tilted his head at your answer, clearly having expected something else. “I was merely wondering… like, it isn’t exactly _healthy_ to kidnap someone, so I was just wondering if you had anyone you could talk to? I don’t know what you’re dealing with, but I had a friend who also had delusions so-“

While you were speaking Chrollo rubbed his eyes, exhaling deeply.

“Y/n.”

You stopped your rant. “Ah.. yes?”

“If I show you something you will consider impossible, will you stop insinuating I need to see a psychologist?”

Kind of curious, you nodded.

Chrollo held his hand out, and out of nowhere, a book appeared. You gasped as the pages flew open without any incentive on his end. Holding his thumb on the spine, the book stopped turning pages. As if that was the signal, a small flower bloomed in the black-haired mans other hand. As soon as it had grown fully, he picked it up beneath his fingers.

Extending his hand, he placed the small yellow flower in your hand.

“This was without a doubt, the most useless thing I’ve ever used my abilities for.” He laughingly said at your confused and slightly wide-eyed expression.

“I… kind of believe you now, though.” You said, your fingers tentatively touching the flower. “Though even if you aren’t lying about that entire ‘soulmate’ thing, it still isn’t okay to kidnap.”

“I guess I’ll have to live with that.” Chrollo said a bit teasing, closing the book in his hands. The flower immediately disappeared.

“What is that though? Is it magic?” You excitedly started to question. “Is it like an inborn ability?”

“I’ll explain all that later, but now you really need to continue eating. We’ll land in fifteen minutes, and we won’t stop for another four hours.”

“Oh. Okay.” You picked up the fruit yoghurt and leaned back to eat it.

As he said, the airship landed approximately fifteen minutes later, though you didn’t really have a way to tell time. You had expected him to try and sneak out, but he walked out with the confidence of someone who had done this before. He had re-done the bandana, and the two of you walked out of the airport without even one stop. Chrollo apparently had gotten your passport as well, and he made it very clear that asking for help would end up badly.

 _“I’ll kill anyone you tell.”_ He had said, and though it had been said with the smile he had been wearing the entire time, you didn’t dare endanger the lives of random passer-by’s.

He had led you toward a car that had been parked nearby, similar to the one he had back at the library. In relative silence, you listened to the radio, and he drove the two of you to Yorknew, which was still a ways off. You wondered why he hadn’t taken a direct flight toward the city, but you were sure he wouldn’t answer something like that.

As soon as the city neared, the high sky-scrapers filling up the view and the sun already lowering, you started feeling a bit uneasy. The questions of where he would take you and what would happen then started ringing through your mind, and the more you got closer to his destination, the more the anxiety build up.

Chrollo suddenly pulled into a residential street, taking the first parking spot available.

“We’re here.”

You didn’t respond, only wrapping the sleeves of your coat around your hands. He stepped out of the car, opening your door, motioning for you to get out. You hesitated but left the relatively safe feeling vehicle for the dark street only lit up by the streetlamps.

Moving toward one of the houses, he grabbed a key out of his pockets and opened the door. As he opened it, he let you in first, before going in himself and closing the door. As soon as the door closed you saw a keypad, which Chrollo typed some quick numbers in.

“There are quite a few alarms here, please stay here while I take care of them.”

‘ _Very subtle way of informing me.’_ You thought. The inside of the house was breathtaking, dark red wooden floors with soft white walls, all filled to the brim with art. It was an old house, or at least designed to look authentic and old.

After a minute, the dark-haired man returned. “I’m done. Do you want to look around or do you want to sleep?”

You felt exhausted, yet you were sure if you laid down right now you would lay awake for hours, trying to sort everything that happened today. Nevertheless, looking around was another thing that would certainly fill you with anxiety, and laying down on some soft mattress seemed nicer.

“I think I’d like to go to sleep.”

He smiled and motioned for you to follow, which you did.

Going up the stairs, he led you to a big bedroom with a king-sized bed. “I still need to call some people, so make yourself comfortable.”

Not really listening, you nodded and entered the room.

As soon as the door closed, you exhaled heavily, feeling all your nerves suddenly release in one big wave. You undid your coat and stripped till you just had a tank-top and underwear on. A small bathroom was connected to the room, so you looked around and tried to find a new toothbrush to use, which was surprisingly easy as an unopened pack of toothbrushes was already laid out on the sink.

After brushing your teeth and going to the toilet, you finally tried to lay down in the large bed. It was a nice bed, but so different from your own that you found it hard to fall asleep, even being as exhausted as you were. The sounds were different, the feel of the sheets was different, the pillow was different. It all helped further busy your mind, not letting you relax.

Not to mention the thoughts that swirled around your mind, trying to make sense of today.

You were laying with your eyes closed, just trying and failing to fall asleep, when a few hours later, the door opened. You didn’t open your eyes, hoping he’d just go away again. Instead, you heard the unmistakable sound of someone undressing, and you could nearly feel your heart explode as you felt the sheets being lifted from the other side of the bed.

_Was he sleeping next to you?!_

“You don’t have to pretend to be asleep.” He softly said, sighing as he eased into the bed. You hoped he would stay on his side, but that hope was quickly squandered as you felt him come closer. “I’m sure this is a lot to take in.”

Feeling a mixture of mortification and embarrassment, you felt his arm sneak around your middle as he pressed against you.

You tried to wriggle away a bit as you felt yourself tense up completely, but you merely felt him smile against your hair in the process.

“You’ve never had a boyfriend, did I remember that correctly?” He asked, though you both knew he remembered correctly. Nevertheless, you nodded, hoping he would take your inexperience as a reason to back off a bit.

He didn’t, his arm still hooked tightly around your waist, and your back flush against his chest.

_“Hope you don’t mind me being your first.”_


	6. Pariston

Your fingers strained against the fabric of the tie with which your hands had been bound to the headrest of the bed, a glitter-red one that let off on your skin slightly.

With your eyes pressed shut, you tried to drown out everything in the room, imagining a different situation. One where you were at home, sitting on the couch, watching a re-run of some bad sitcom or comedy. Your fiance would come home late from work and you’d prepare some hot cocoa for them, settling in for a nice, quiet evening. 

It turned out impossible to keep your focus on the fantasy, the noise filling the room and the sensations running through your body too loud and present to ignore. As a desperate attempt to escape mentally any other way, you tried to focus on the fabric, your fingers tracing every knot and turn that had been expertly formed, but it was getting increasingly harder. 

He was just so _loud_.

“You’re so cute, so cute, _ah, so cute_.” He moaned and cooed as he thrust into you, your entire body being pushed further into the mattress due to his desperate, frantic tempo. “Doesn’t this feel nice?”

So far you had come about two times, every time you had thrown your head back, doing everything in your power to keep silent. He had known every time and had picked up the pace even more, bringing you back to square one within mere moments.

Trying to ignore him, your fingers dug into the fabric of his tie, pushing your face as far away from him as you could with him hovering so close over you. A particularly hard thrust made you bite on your tongue, not wanting any noise to escape from your mouth. Pariston had no such reservations, moaning and grunting constantly in your ears, only interrupting himself to talk to you.

“Can you look at me? I want you to look at me.”

Feeling him move up, no longer hovering inches above you, you pursed your eyes even tighter shut. You weren’t going to acknowledge him, this wasn’t happening and he wasn’t going to get the satisfaction of seeing you cry. 

Slightly slowing down, his hands squeezed your sides, using them as leverage to get even the slightest bit deeper.

“Honey, oh, honey, please look at your _soulmate_ as he’s fucking you.” You could hear the pout in his voice, yet you knew his expression was nothing short of smug. You felt one of his hands leave your sides, and before you could even realize what was happening you heard the distinct sound of photos being shot.

“Or should I send a few pictures to your fiance instead?”

The idea of your fiance seeing you spread out under Pariston like this, your hands tied to a headrest and your body filled to the brim with your soulmates cock was horrifying, and in response you slowly let your eyes open, taking in the scene before you. 

Pariston was still dressed, with the exception of his tie holding you to the bed, in a full three-piece suit. As soon as you made eye-contact, his smug expression turned into a boyish smile, his eyes twinkling kindly at you while he dropped the phone on the mattress. With a loving caress of your thighs, he resumed his previous tempo, barely pulling out of you before slamming back in.

Despite the composure of his expression, you felt his hands grip you incredibly tight, a slight tremor in Pariston’s voice revealing just how desperate and lustful he was right now.

He leaned forward, forcing his tongue in your mouth before making the motions of a kiss. After a while, he moved a bit back, his face still mere inches from yours. From here you could see the darker glint in his eyes, his soft smile so harshly contrasting his actions. 

When you’d first seen his smile, all that time ago, you’d felt awful. Bumping into your soulmate was a rare occurrence, and one you hadn’t expected to ever experience, considering you’d already engaged yourself to your boyfriend of five years. Not wanting that to end, you’d told him that you weren’t interested in having a soulmate. To your surprise, instead of looking deflated or angry, he’d burst out in laughter.

_“That’s perfect!”_

In retrospect, that had been the moment you should’ve figured out the well-dressed man in front of you wasn’t completely normal. 

After that, Pariston had aggressively pursued you, showing up wherever you went, bringing extravagant and ridiculous gifts. Every time you rejected them, but that only seemed to encourage him to try even more and to bother you even more. At one point, you had enough of it, the sympathy you felt for him as your soulmate drying up completely.

You’d told him to leave you alone.

His response had been to drag you and tie you to a headrest before fucking you desperately.

“You’re such a good girl, aren’t you?” Pariston purred, one of his hands going down to help you along, fire spreading even further through you as his thumb pressed down on the nub, now even you unable to keep the gasps and moans he drew from you silent. “You fit me like a glove, don’t you? Don’t you like this?”

As if to accompany his question, his thrusts changed from shallow to long, drawn-out ones where he pulled out nearly entirely before slamming back in, making your back arch into him. A loud moan escaped you, him filling you up so completely even your strategy of escaping mentally sinking down in the gutter.

He laughed at the sound, a loud melodic sound that clashed awfully with the sound of his hips thrusting against you. 

“You _do_. Oh, you’re so cute. Can you say that out loud for me?”

You remained silent, but as his fingers dug into your skin, the threat was made clear to you. 

“Y-yes.” You managed, your head starting to feel lightheaded. Your cunt was being stretched completely, the head of Pariston’s cock hitting your cervix with every harsh thrust.

Putting one hand by his ear and tilting it toward you, he flashed you a teasing smile, his expression not even slightly fitting the harsh way his hips forced his cock in you. “Yes you like what?”

“A-h, I like this.” With tears forming in your eyes, you forced out the words, even now trying to avoid saying exactly what you knew he wanted to hear. He responded with a slight pout, his hands moving upwards towards your breasts to cup them. You had a hard time to keep your legs from shaking as he once again increased his pace, his fingers tugging harshly at your nipples.

“You’re so _cute_ , y/n.” He stated, a wide smile forming on his face. “I’ll get you to scream it before I’m done, though.”


	7. Illumi Part 1

Mindlessly zapping through the television channels, your eyelids fell heavy on your eyes, indicating your exhaustion. Seeing that nothing noteworthy was on, you turned it off. The lack of noise was welcome and excruciating at the same time. On the one hand, you couldn’t stand the artificial sounds coming from the less than optimal sound system anymore, but the relative silence was probably worse.

As now you had to focus purely on the beeping sounds of the machinery next to you.

You leaned back into the bed, looking up at the ceiling for a few moments before looking beside you to find a book. The balloons and get-well cards that used to occupy that space had dwindled, now only containing your own possessions. Opening the book, you started reading.

It was unfair to expect people to keep coming and keep you in mind, especially considering the time you’d been here already, but it still filled you with pangs of hurt. There were few people who kept visiting, but at least you now knew who you could really count on.

The first ‘room’ you’d been in had been completely white, not a shred of color to be seen. You shared the hall with a few other people, which at first had been annoying, but now you couldn’t think of anything you missed more. As soon as it had been confirmed that your stay was going to be a bit longer than usual, your family had arranged a private room. 

Where they had gotten the money, you didn’t know, and they skirted around the topic with guilt-ridden looks and topic-changing.

A soft knock on your door interrupted your musings, making you look up from the book. 

“Come in.”

The nurse and doctor that had taken care of you had been switched with new ones when you’d gotten the new room. The new ones were fine, but they did pry a bit more, asking questions about your life and interests. Normally this wouldn’t bother you, but the way they both insisted you answer each and every question was a bit disconcerting.

The nurse came in, a young man with sharp eyes. Holding a forced smile, he walked toward you. Compared to his usual appearance, he was looking immaculate, not a part of his uniform out of place. With eyes more serious than you were used to he addressed you.

“Miss Y/n, there is a visitor for you here.” 

Sitting up straighter, you perched an eyebrow. “Since when are visitors allowed outside of the usual hours? Last time you sent away my mother no problem.” The words were spoken without any real malice, you were too tired for any of that anyway.

Swallowing, the nurse looked toward the door with a slightly worried expression. “This is an exception. I just came here to tell you to prepare.”

Still a bit confused, you nodded. Before you could ask why the exception was made or who it was, the nurse speed-walked out of your room, closing the door with a resounding thud. Mentally shrugging you looked back at your book, continuing where you had left off, you’d get your answers when the guest arrived anyway.

It took a few minutes, but another knock interrupted your reading.

Closing your book completely, you told the mystery visitor to come in, your eyes glued on the door.

The door opened and a man with long jet-black hair stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He had intense eyes, boring right into your skull, and he wore a strange sort of fashion you couldn’t really place. 

You weren’t judging though, who knows how fashion evolved since you were stuck in here. The fact that disconcerted you the most about him was that you had absolutely no idea who the fuck this was, as he clearly wasn’t some medical expert or someone you knew.

“Hello? Who are you?”

Standing still as a pin, his eyes went over you before moving toward the medical apparatus next to you. Despite not even knowing who this was, your stomach dropped a bit, anticipating a comment on the bottles of medicine and monitors scattered around the room. He didn’t make the comment, though, as he remained completely silent untill he sat down in the chair next to your bed.

His presence and silence freaked you out a bit, especially because you still had no idea what he was doing here or who he was. He seemed, however, to be waiting for the right moment to speak, so you waited with him.

As soon as he sat upright, his eyes staring straight through you, he thought it acceptable to speak. 

“Hello, y/n. My name is Illumi.”

What.

Whatever you had expected, this wasn’t it. The familiar words felt like a punch to the face, and you had trouble even breathing as the reality of what was happening sank in.

The skin on your lower left arm started itching, your hand going straight to the spot where the words he’d just spoken had been engraved since the moment you’d been born.

_Your soulmate?_

Now?

Here?

“I am sure you know who I am now, don’t you?” He continued, ignoring you as you struggled to even get the slightest legible word out of your mouth. “Certain circumstances allowed me to spare some time to personally meet you.”

Blinking, you tried to think of what to say only for your thoughts to be drowned out by a mix of embarrassment and anger every time the monitor next to you beeped. You breathed in heavily, his gaze forcing you to regain yourself, as he was clearly waiting for you to start speaking.

“Okay, uhm, how did you know I was here?” You couldn’t think of something nice to say, and every romantic line you’d thought would be cool was thrown out of the window as soon as he’d stepped in. He was clearly a very serious man, and the atmosphere was a bit tense compared to the the cheerful and happy one you would have expected when meeting your soulmate.

He didn’t even blink at your question. “Every hospital makes note of the words of their patients. Since yours mention my name, it was easy to locate you.”

Your eyebrows rose. “How did you get access to the hospital’s archives though, I can’t imagine them being open to the public.”

For the first time since he’d walked in, he seemed amused, a small teasing smile forming on his lips. Instead of answering though, he merely looked around further in your room, inspecting the remaining cards on your nightstand and the fold-up chairs next to your closet. His eyes finally lingered on the object in your hands, the book you’d been reading.

His hand went forward, motioning for you to give it to him. 

As you reluctantly handed it over, you wondered if it was like this for everyone. In the movies and books meetings between soulmates were always such a happy occurrence, something to be celebrated. This felt a bit forced, the air tense and his piercing gaze something you would have to get used to.

As he scanned the backside of the book, his eyes narrowed a bit.

The book itself was pretty cliche, a pair of friends going on adventures, solving everything with friendship and love. The moral of every chapter was basically to be kind to one another. It was sickly sweet to read, but it lifted your spirit and it was incredibly well-written.

“Who gave you this book?”

Stumbling a bit over your words, you answered. “There’s a library here, I just ask the staff to bring the books up here.”

Nodding slightly, Illumi laid the book down next to him instead of handing it back into your extended hand. A bit awkwardly, you laid your hand back down. A silence waved over the two of you, though you seemed a bit more bothered by it than he was.

He suddenly stood up from his seat.

“I have to go now.” Illumi said, breaking the silence. “I will bring you some better books next time I visit.”

His hair flowing behind him, he strode towards the door, his presence as intense as when he’d first entered. Nodding a bit dazedly, you only noticed when he was halfway through your room that he was holding your book. 

“Hey, can you give that back before you go?”

Illumi looked back at you, stopping his stride. Walking calmly over to you, something that made you a bit more nervous than the logical side of your brain said it should, he leaned over you. Coming a bit closer than what you would’ve preferred, he inspected you.

“No.” He stated, still mere inches away from your face. “I’ll be taking this with me. It isn’t _fit_ to be read by you.”

You opened your mouth to object, but his finger was on your lips in mere moments. He shushed you with a soft voice, the action not at all fitting his still expression. His proximity and the intense feeling you got from him made you shut up, waiting for him to continue speaking.

“If you are to be my wife, I’ll have to prepare you a bit.” He spoke, his voice even and dispassionate. He eyed the machinery and the medicine bottles next to you. “Don’t worry though, _I’ll take my time_. I’ll make sure you can handle it.”

Returning his gaze to you, he placed a kiss on your forehead, a motion that felt robotic and studied. 

Illumi leaned back, resuming his way toward the door. You were still too baffled and lightly scared to say or do anything, his words repeating in your head drowning out even the ever-present noise of the medical equipment. 

As he opened the door, he looked back a final time, tapping the book cover with his index finger. 

“You can consider this the _very first_ baby step.”


	8. Illumi Part 2

“Hmm. This just won’t do.” As he circled around you, Illumi shot you a slightly disappointed look as you laid on the flood, raggedly breathing. “Can’t you sit up for me?”

‘ _No, because you took away my pain killers, you sick-’_

Despite the angry thoughts that shot through your mind, you pushed your hands underneath your chest, trying to lift yourself up a bit. The pain that shot through your back immediately made you fling yourself down again. You weren’t a stranger to pain, but you’d never experienced it like this, on the rocky floor of one of the Zoldyck side-rooms.

You had been in the hospital for such a long time, you really didn’t have enough strength or muscles to overcome the pain. You had muttered it to Illumi as soon as he had picked you up and laid you on the floor, but Illumi seemed to find the nugget of information irrelevant.

He hummed again, crouching down next to you, wiping away a few strands of hair out of your face.

“I know this must be quite painful for you, dear,” Illumi said. “but we won’t be leaving until you fulfill your task.”

His empty eyes were completely devoid of sympathy, and you knew that he would keep his word. You’d learned plenty of things about your soulmate in the last few months, but the fact that he was rarely kidding was one of the first things you learned.

After your initial meeting, he had visited a number of times, each time bringing books and movies he found ‘ _appropriate_ ’. He had been a bit weird, and his insistence on you watching and reading whatever he brought you was a bit annoying, but you couldn’t deny the fact that you kind of liked him. He visited on a more regular basis than even your parents and he genuinely seemed to listen whenever you spoke.

A few months later, he had suddenly stated that you would visit his home for a few weeks, something that according to him _‘should’ve occurred much sooner’_. The prospect of getting out of the hospital and its maddening monotony had made you incredibly excited, and he’d actually smiled when you’d shared your enthusiasm.

When you’d later asked exactly _how_ you would be able to visit, considering the number of doctors and medical equipment you required on a daily business, he had confidently stated that you would have everything you needed there.

On arrival, that turned out to be completely correct.

Besides being completely baffled by the sheer size of the entrance or the ease with which Illumi opened it, the vastness of the estate was also mind-boggling. You didn’t meet any of Illumi’s family, yet a lot of butlers were suddenly surrounding you at nearly all times. 

Being of relatively financially moderate origins, the entire situation felt incredibly off. Butlers? An estate? _An entire mountain?_ An entire wing of the building apparently belonged solely to Illumi, and when he showed you where you would be sleeping, you nearly gagged in surprise when you noticed the exact same medical equipment you had back at the hospital littered around the room.

 _“I-Isn’t that stuff incredibly expensive?”_ You had asked, a bit overwhelmed with the sheer opulence the room radiated.

_“Don’t worry about such matters.”_

And that had been the end of it.

The first few days at the Zoldyck mansion had been downright amazing. Illumi spent more time with you than ever, and whenever he needed to step out for a few moments, you were presented with amazing food and new books to take up your time.

It was at the end of the first week that you noticed your back and legs hurting a lot more than they usually did. You’d brushed it off at first as your body working overtime with all the new things happening, but when you couldn’t even stand up anymore without Illumi’s assistance, you’d asked if you could be returned to the hospital.

 _“Why? You have all the necessary things available right here.”_ He’d asked.

 _“I think my painkillers aren’t working, and I can’t even stand up without your help,”_ You’d rambled, feeling a bit lost as you looked at the unchanging expression of your soulmate. _“Something must be wrong.”_

 _“That’s because you didn’t get any painkillers today,”_ Illumi stated after your slightly panicked words, grabbing your hand in a very mechanical motion. _“It is a necessary part of your training.”_

_“Training?”_

He’d mentioned ‘training’ a few times before, though you had assumed it to be merely a sort of ‘etiquette training’, mainly concerned with the fact that they were clearly in a higher social circle than you. 

The sort of books he had prescribed you to read had helped you make that conclusion, though when he picked you up that same day and carried you toward a part of the mansion you hadn’t visited yet, you realized you had been terribly wrong.

The machinery and equipment you saw lying around quickly made it clear that the view you had of Illumi and his family was probably not entirely correct. 

It had now been around two hours, Illumi grabbing a nearby chair to keep an eye on you as you kept struggling to sit up. Anger was boiling under your skin, but most of all you felt incredibly hurt. 

This was your _soulmate_ , and he was purposefully hurting you, without so much as a glimpse of empathy in his eyes. Every piece of fondness that had grown towards the black-haired man now formed the very lump in your throat, stabbing into your heart as you laid on the cold floor with pain shooting through every nerve.

“Don’t look at me like that, dear.” Illumi suddenly spoke up, not moving an inch. “This is all necessary if you’re to be my wife. No member of the Zoldyck family, in-law or not, should be dependant on measly pills to function.”

“I need those _measly pills_ because I’m sick, Illumi.” You retorted, your voice breaking with the exertion it took to merely respond. “Can’t exactly _will_ away something that is _killing me_ , can I?!”

You immediately regretted responding, as another wave of pain coasted over you, making you gag on nothing. 

Laying your head back down on the damp rock beneath you, you felt the corners of your eyesight beginning to fade. You barely noticed Illumi jumping to his feet as you finally completely fainted.

Illumi picked your unconscious form up, frowning slightly at your still pained expression. Carrying you back to your room, he administered the very drugs he had withheld this very morning as soon as he had laid you down in your bed. After making sure you hadn’t sustained any actual damage, Illumi retired to his own chambers.

He had a lot to think about.

On the one hand, your illness and dependency on your pills and medical equipment weren’t things fit for a member of the Zoldyck Family, though he doubted if you would ever meet those requirements. Even if you hadn’t been sick, you were clearly unfit for the training regimes Illumi had undergone.

You were just so _frail_.

When he’d asked Mother about the issue, she had responded with the idea of getting a second wife, one purely for the purposes of giving the Zoldyck family more healthy members. Y/n wouldn’t be able to fulfill such a task anyway, the children born from her probably as weak as their mother. 

Despite seeing the logic in Mother’s words, something had irked him about the idea, and he had proposed to first try anyway with his very own soulmate. Mother had flown into tears, proclaiming him a true romantic. 

He hadn’t paid any mind to those words.

But with your outburst, something had clicked in Illumi’s mind. You were dependant on your pills and medical equipment, sure, but you were just as dependant on _him_. He paid for your medical expenses, he took care of you, and he was probably the only one in this world that would _truly love you._

_Would you continue to depend on him if you got better?_

Illumi wasn’t blind. He had seen your growing affection for him, something he would continue to nurture. He could progress your feelings with a simple needle, but he much preferred your genuine affection, if at all possible.

But if he made you grow past your dependency, the interference of his Mother and others was set in stone, as well as a possible growing resentment on your side. You would be a Zoldyck first and foremost, though you were not worthy in the slightest of the title. 

If he kept you like this, however, he could keep you to himself. _His own little y/n._

Illumi could barely contain a smile as he closed the doors behind him.


	9. Uvogin

Be stronger than anything, and anyone.

This had been Uvogin’s philosophy since the very beginning, something he prided himself in and upheld. The idea had been born out of a need to stand above the rest, to crush anyone that dared to threaten something he found important, to destroy all those who opposed the Phantom Troupe.

Along the years, he had begun to find pleasure in this. The satisfaction of slamming down those who even entertained the thought of defeating him lit something up inside him that compared to nothing else. The adrenaline coursing through him, the clarity in his thinking and the physical rush of destroying. He never felt more alive than when surrounded by opponents he could beat down.

His soulmate was clearly different.

In quiet moments, he felt their emotions wash over him like the sea would lap at the feet of a barefooted man at the beach, rarely enough to overwhelm him, but enough to calm anyone down.

Whoever she was, she was calmer, kinder and more sensitive than he could ever be. It wasn’t hard of course to outmatch him in those kinds of things, but it still felt alien to him. He often chuckled, thinking to himself how she must be reacting to his side, his explosive emotions probably rocking her out of her seat and into the ceiling.

Her kinder nature had also helped in forming his philosophy, motivating him. If she was this trusting, this kind, this _weak_ , what would stop the enemies of the Phantom Troupe of using her as bait or killing her just to hurt him. He would have to be strong enough to prevent that from ever happening, strong enough for the both of them if they ever met.

He nevertheless felt hesitant to actively search for her, knowing within himself that the life she was leading was probably better than anything he could offer her, being on the run and all. The Boss did, however, encourage the search, as knowing your soulmate alone meant a heavy boost in nen. So, he compromised, lightly searching wherever he went, yet never the full out witch hunts he saw Phinks and Feitan act out.

And then one day when he was standing outside an apartment he had been using for a week now, intending to kill the neighbors for their provisions, he saw you.

Merely walking past him.

And he knew.

Something clicked within him, and every description of what it would feel like fell short, just like the descriptions said they would. As soon as he looked at you, his aura shifted, not only encompassing himself as it would usually, but reaching out to you. You didn’t possess any nen, clearly, but the aura trickling out of you still met his halfway. 

He just stopped you right in your tracks, an arm stopping you, yelling out a ‘ _there you are_!’. You turned around, your eyes widening as if pulled out from a trance, and focused on him. The minute you and him made eye-contact, Uvogin could feel everything you felt, from surprise to an overwhelming curiosity.

“Wha-. To be fair, in your perspective, you had entered the apartment building in order to visit your friend who lived a few apartments away from here before you were basically grabbed by a _huge guy and holy shit that was your soulmate._

“Hello.”

There were a few tense moments of silence before you were able to answer.

“Uhh, hi.” You said, suddenly really realizing who stood in front of you. “Nice to meet you?”

Uvo didn’t answer, curious eyes just browsing you up and down,taking in your appearance, smirking as soon as he felt any embarrassment coming off you. 

“What’s your name?” 

You hesitated slightly, and for a second Uvo didn’t really understand the emotion he felt coming from you. Was it fear? Why would you be feeling fearful of him? He knew he was physically intimidating, and his aura didn’t help make him more approachable, but you were his soulmate. If anyone shouldn’t fear him, it was you.

The feeling stayed, however, 

You looked away for a moment, then focused back on him. “It’s Kenna.”

Uvogin scowled. “No it’s not.”

You were an outrageously bad liar, not to mention that you seemed to forget he could literally feel whatever you felt. The mix of stress and fear, along with the fact that your voice wobbled slightly, wasn’t difficult to mark as a lie.

He crossed his arms, his brows furrowing as he inspected you further. 

“Why are you lying to me?”

Your eyes widening, your hands disappearing in the sleeves of your jacket, you looked away from him. “I don’t think its the best idea if we actually, you know, get to know one another.”

Uvogin huffed, his eyes narrowing. “And why the hell is that?”

“Maybe because I also feel your side? Did you think about that?” You suddenly snapped, looking back up. “Do you know how many panic attacks I’ve had due to your stupid bloodlust? How many things you’ve ruined for me?”

It was true that being his soulmate had caused you nothing but annoyance and strife so far. Irregular anger attacks and sudden urges to hurt people were all part of the package, the only upside being the surges of motivation you got sometimes. 

Whatever soft emotions he had, whatever joy and contentedness he may have ever felt, it didn’t reach you. You couldn’t find anything within him to latch onto, to like, _to love_.

The moment you’d looked at him, you knew that for a fact.

“I just don’t think its a good idea.” You ended, your cheeks red with anger.

Uvo exhaled loudly, looking up, before focusing back on you. Your anger felt juvenile and he couldn’t bring himself to really care about it. If that was all? 

“No need to get angry.” He muttered, looking down at you with a hint of amusement before lowering his arms and lifting you up in his arms, ignoring your cries of protest. Turning around, he kicked open the door of the apartment he’d been occupying, walking in. 

If you were going to be difficult, he’d just forcefully get to know you.

Mentally congratulating himself for cleaning up the corpse of the previous owner the day before, he sat you down on a couch and sat across from you, grabbing your bag in the process. You tried hard to interpret his feelings, yet all you could find was determination and amusement, so you had no idea what he was actually thinking.

He opened your bag, rummaging through it only to chuckle as he found what he was looking for. Picking out your wallet, he opened it and searched its contents. To your horror, his smirk tripled as he lifted a familiar identification card.

“Y/n? Well, I guess it is nice to meet you.”


	10. Feitan

It wasn’t an uncommon practice.

A lot of prominent families that were publicly well-known tattooed every single one of their members with a symbol. The symbol slightly differed per member, as to easily match the soulmates together as soon as the tattoo had been verified. People waking up with such a mark couldn’t hide it forever after all, and most didn’t want to. Why hide such a thing when it meant you were meant for royalty or riches?

It wasn’t like that for you.

As soon as the tattoo had formed on your leg, when you were about sixteen, you hadn’t minded it that much. You found it a bit tacky and big, but you weren’t that hung-up about it. That changed when you watched the news a bit more. More and more news items were broadcast about a group of thieves committing atrocities, which wouldn’t have shaken you up that much if the news-reader didn’t keep adding:

‘ _The band of thieves is recognizable by the large spider tattoos with numbers located on their bodies-_ ’

As soon as you’d realized that you had ran to your parents like a little baby, crying and asking what to do. Your mother, ever the quick-thinker, immediately covered the tattoo with everything at her disposal while your father was still processing what it meant. 

While it wasn’t publicly endorsed, everyone knew what happened to the soulmates of criminals. Killing them would mean killing the criminal, which was often easier than finding and eliminating the original criminal. It was such a useful technique, even the state closed their eyes to the practice, only interfering when they deemed it necessary. 

You had even heard of special sort of bounty hunters, who went after soulmates instead of the criminals themselves.

The Phantom Troupe was known for their gruesome crimes, having no respect or care for human life at all. They probably had gigantic bounties on their heads, meaning you had a gigantic bounty on your head. Even if the tattoo was fake, who would be willing to take that chance?

This tattoo meant you were in danger and it meant that whoever got the tattoo was _dangerous_. 

Covering up had been quite easy, though it impeded on a lot of your life. You never could go swimming, you never undressed in front of others and you had to spend fifteen minutes every morning applying make-up to your upper-leg. Your mother had ingrained these things into your head, making sure that you never told anyone else, not even those you thought you could trust.

And for a long time, it went fine.

The fear of being found turned into a mild noise at the back of your head, quieted by the constant rituals you undertook to ensure it never came to be. In the end, how you were found out was still a mystery to you, but the method didn’t really matter at all. The question was who would find you first.

And for better or for worse, it turned out to be your soulmate.

Walking home at night never was a pleasant endeavor, but it was one you were forced to undertake every evening. Your bus didn’t stop anywhere closer, so the last two blocks between the bus stop and home had to go on foot. The necessity of it didn’t make the feeling any less though, the dark and bleak alleyways always creeping you out.

Blasting your music on a high enough volume to drown out your anxieties, you speed-walked toward your house. 

It was pretty late, so you had expected to be the only one on the street, thinking the rest of the city to be sleeping away in their beds. Mostly you were right, lights turning off all around you, though there was one man walking straight toward you coming from the opposite direction. 

It was always creepy to walk toward other people at such hours, but he gave off a really creepy vibe. His hands were in his pockets, his eyes straight toward you, not even pretending to look elsewhere. If only for the fact that you walked this piece of town every night, but you tried not to let it get to you, walking on with just the slightest bit of hesitance in your step.

He came closer, still staring straight at you, and you wished to God that he would just walk on. 

You lowered the volume of your music, finding the situation a bit too creepy to not keep your complete attention on it.

Closing in on you, he suddenly stopped walking and your heart skipped a beat, your hands digging into your pockets to push a key in between your knuckles just in case. The man was pretty small in stature, but his presence felt dangerous, and everything from his black coat to the cowl masking his lower face to the umbrella he was carrying just screamed suspicious.

It hadn’t even rained at all this week.

You tried to walk on, ignoring that he had just stopped, but he still looked directly at you. 

“Do you have no self-preservation?” He suddenly asked, making you halt immediately. If anyone else had tried to talk to you, you would’ve booked it, but his voice of tone demanded your attention above all else, not to mention the ominous tone of his words.

You turned slightly to him, pulling one earplug out of your ear. 

“Are you talking to me?” You asked, faking not having paid attention. He merely tilted his head, unimpressed with your acting.

You were about to put your earbuds back in and run away when he suddenly grabbed you by your hair. Releasing a sound of surprise and pain, you were about to scream when his other hand went to cover your mouth. He held a strength you hadn’t expected from him, yet it seemed to fit him seamlessly.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.” He added, short and curt with his words, talking in an accent you had trouble placing. You were about to try and pull away again when he pulled your hair further down. “And _shut up_.”

Your eyes widened, the force of his words and the glare attached easily shutting up any attempt of screaming you had planned. He seemed satisfied with your fearful gaze, removing his grip on your hair and mouth. His words weren’t sufficient enough to keep you quiet when his hand moved lower, right down to your legs, a soft yelp escaping you.

A terrifying glare was sent your way, making you sure his patience was running out. You shut yourself up again, looking around frantically to anyone else on the street, a new form of panic forming when you saw absolutely no one. 

A tear in your legging was not what you had expected when he’d moved his hands down, and they filled you with a new kind of fear. The location of the tear was a bit odd for that, however, and you came to a sudden realization what he was looking for when he looked up in mild surprise as the skin beneath the legging was blank.

“Where is the tattoo?” He asked, though his question was said more as a statement than an actual question. When you looked away, not saying anything he suddenly gripped your throat tightly, his nails digging into your skin. You cried out in pain, not loud enough for anyone to hear.

“Where is it.” 

“Ma-make-up” You managed to croak out, the dark-haired man’s nails drawing blood in your neck. Frantically your hands went to your tattoo, rubbing away the make-up, your skin hurting from the force and desperation you applied.

As soon as you managed to wipe away a small piece of the foundation, he let you go, re-assessing the now partially visible tattoo. You doubled over, wheezing up air as you were let go, your throat burning.

He chuckled at your state, the first sign of emotion besides annoyance you’d seen come out of him. “See? No self-preservation. What if I had been a bounty hunter? What would you have done?”

Still catching your breath, you looked up at him, the moonlight illuminating the small smile you could see behind the cowl. His eyes stood amused, though it wasn’t an amusement you felt the need to be acquainted with, too dark to be good news.

His hand cupped your chin, his thumb making soft motions on your cheek.

“What good news I found you first.”


	11. Chrollo Part 3

“Are you sure you know what you are doing?” You tentatively asked, watching the needle and thread moving ever closer to the wound. “I just mean… diy is good but I don’t want to make it worse, you know.”

Chrollo didn’t even falter, piercing your skin without looking up, though his eyes crinkled in amusement. “I’ve done this more times than I can count. Don’t worry.”

It didn’t hurt, your entire body filled with enough pain killers for you to forget about the wound all together. You’d fallen while holding some glass, and a large piece had etched itself in your shoulder, thankfully missing everything vital. Your yell of surprise and pain had summoned your kidnapper, who to his credit, had acted quite efficiently.

He had pulled out the glass, calmed you down and stopped the bleeding almost in the same breath. The pain had been harsh before the painkillers, and not accustomed to it, you’d openly cried, but he’d been so calm and comforting that you pushed through. 

When Chrollo had stood up to grab a nearby medkit, you’d been almost sad to see him leave.

When he got back you did not ask where he’d gotten the painkillers, assuming the worst by default. You had swallowed the ones he gave to you, when he suddenly pulled out needle and thread, calmly insisting the wound needed to be stitched.

You wanted to continue your appeal for a visit to a _real_ doctor, but the dark haired man actually shushed you, placing his finger on your lips before starting to stitch the wound. He worked quite fast, pulling the thread through completely and closing the wound in a measly minute.

“See? Not too bad, right?” You turned your head toward the wound, and though most of it would only be visible with a mirror, the part you could see looked tightly and neatly stitched up. At the very least, it wasn’t bleeding anymore. “I have a friend who taught me.”

“You have friends?” You spoke, realizing as soon as you said it how hurtful it sounded. “I, uh, did not mean it like that. I just assumed since, you know… kidnappers are often lone wolves and all that… Sorry.”

“Don’t be too surprised.” He laughed, seemingly adjusted to your strange comments. “You’ll meet some of them sooner or later.”

“Cool.” _You guessed?_ You weren’t all that sure if you wanted to meet his friends if they accepted his kidnapping habits and taught each other stitching wounds for fun. Good friends stuck through good and bad, but that was going a bit far. Your head suddenly spun a bit. “Am I supposed to be dizzy?”

“It was to be expected, yes. You took quite a large dose of painkillers.” Chrollo grabbed a bottle of ointment from the medkit, applying some of it on your wound. You felt the cold of the ointment, but that was about as much as you could feel, your entire body heavy and dizzy. “Probably quite a bit more than was _really_ necessary.”

“Why did you give me that much then?”

Finishing up his impromptu treatment, he stuck a large plaster on the wound. As calm as ever, he shrugged slightly. “Am I not allowed to be a bit worried? You should really be more careful next time. The glass was only a few inches away from your jugular.”

You frowned. “Okay, yeah, you’re right. I… I am going to lie down now.” Before you could even attempt to stand up, you were already picked up, your entire body reeling and dizzy as he carried you toward the bedroom. While the first few nights sleeping had been nearly impossible with all the new sensations and a man laying only a few inches away from you, it was odd how quickly you adjusted to it, now already reaching out to ‘your’ side of the bed.

Internally, you knew you had to remain focused and plan for some escape, but you weren’t really made for something like that, and it wasn’t like you were getting beaten and mistreated. Au contraire, Chrollo seemed to want desperately for you to like the place ( _and him_ ).

Your kidnapper was a bit pushy on the affection front, the arm firmly clasped around you at night having been a red flag for this behavior, but he nevertheless didn’t incite anything more than that, merely showing his own interest in progressing the entire thing. At times you even felt the temptation to do just that, only slapping yourself out of it moments later when your common sense returned.

On one hand, you had been out of the dating game for a while, and to suddenly have your library crush so aggressively pursue you was mind-boggling, yet not all bad? It was getting harder to remind yourself that he had drugged and kidnapped you, and that you should most definitely get out of here, believing that whole ‘soulmate’ deal or not.

You were stuck in a large house. ( _But it was pretty roomy, and there were books and he wasn’t that bad company-wise_ ) He had drugged you ( _But he also stitched up your wound and smiled so softly when he got you talking at night_ ) and last but certainly not least, he had kidnapped you! Taking you away from everything you knew. ( _Definitely a problem and something to be discussed, but he didn’t seem to have any harm in mind and it felt kind of nice to not have to worry about paying rent this month_.)

Safe to say, you were conflicted.

Chrollo laid you down on the linnen, and sat down on the bed, investigating your absent gaze as you were too busy feeling nauseous to really pay attention to his actions. His hand grasped yours.

“I’m not often this domestic.” He murmured. “I don’t mind it that much with you, but this does have an end date… not a permanent one. But I will leave sometime soon, if only for a few weeks.”

You groaned and turned around halfway toward him, careful not to let go of his hand. “What do you mean?”

“Do you watch the news often?” You shook your head, and he hummed in response. “You wouldn’t be familiar with the Phantom Troupe then?”

“Thieves, right?” You said, the name ringing a soft bell in the back of your mind. You were reminded of an event years ago, where an entire museum wing had been emptied, the objects disappearing off the face of the world. The only reason the event had stuck out to you was because some colleague at work had died during it. “I remember the Hunneydew? -Hunneyfield? Something like that -museum being robbed by them.”

“Hunneyfield, yes.” A soft squeeze in your hand made you slowly roll your gaze toward him. You didn’t feel unfocused necessarily, your entire body just tingled slightly as the pain killers turned out to be a bit too strong for you, the spinning in your head especially making you nauseous.. At least you didn’t feel the pain in your shoulder. “I am surprised you remember that one. That was a rather small hit.”

“Someone who worked at the library visited the museum that day, didn’t make it out alive, so we held an entire wake and all.” The entire thing had been sad, and kind of awkward. You hadn’t worked at the library for that long, so to have to attend someone’s wake, with the husband and children all present had left an heavy impression.

“I see, did you know them personally?”

“Not really.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“But how are thieves relevant to ‘I’m going to leave soon’” You muttered, also wondering what his leaving would imply for you. Some naïve part of your mind assumed you would just be brought home, but it also wouldn’t seem out of character if he just left you here. “You gonna steal something?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.” You really didn’t know what to say to that. “What?”

“Ironically enough, another museum wing.”

“Ah.” A few moments passed. “Wait what?” You tried to sit up, failed miserable due to the feeling having left your legs and lower torso, but still managed to somewhat lift yourself against the bedrest. “Don’t joke around about stuff like that.”

Chrollo didn’t say anything, merely looking at you patiently for you to come to your own conclusions. You wondered why he still bothered with that, seeing as you hadn’t made exactly spot on conclusions along the way.

“So the Hunneyfield…”

“Yes. Among others.” An amused glint lit up in his eyes. “I know you still think I am some crazed lunatic, but there is a method to all this. I had hoped the soulmate matter and display of my ability would make that all a bit more clear than it apparently has.”

“Admitting to be part of some thieves guild doesn’t make you less of a crazed lunatic.” You really couldn’t believe yourself, how could you even say that. “I mean… uh…”

“You say exactly what comes to mind, don’t you.” He said fondly, squeezing your hand again to show he didn’t take offense. “I appreciate your honesty. It makes it quite easy to understand you.”

You wanted to sit up and ask further, but the pills made your stomach turn over. There was no pain, your body wonderfully numb, but nausea was definitely building up. A particular wave of it nearly made you double over. “And why did you think this was a right moment to tell me something like this.”

“I decided on the mission just before you got hurt, so I was already intending to tell you.” He pushed a strand of hair out of your face, but compared to his previous attempts at giving you affection, the action feeling a bit out of place. “And maybe I’d hoped the painkillers would somewhat lessen your reaction. Seeing you cry or get mad isn’t really… something I look forward to.”

“Mmh. So the dose of painkillers wasn’t purely to relieve my pain.”

“Maybe so. But wouldn’t you count getting upset as another type of pain?”

“No. No I wouldn’t.” You grumbled, getting angry. You could pinpoint nothing in the conversation to have specifically sparked your ire so, but rather the entirety of it made you mad. “Telling me you steal and kill people and then overdosing me so you don’t have to deal with any reaction doesn’t really make me less upset.”

“No, it would not, I guess.” Chrollo frowned slightly. “I apologize. I’ll take your feelings a bit more into account.”

With all your strength, you turned over to the other side, letting go of his hand.

You heard him sigh behind you. “Don’t lay down like that. It’ll open your stitches.” 

When you didn’t respond, you felt a harsh tug on your shoulder push you right back on your back. You made eye-contact with Chrollo and for the first time you saw actual annoyance spark inside his grey eyes. “If you don’t stay still, I’ll just tie you up so you can’t move.”

“Oh, really taking my feelings into account there, thanks.” You snapped, another wave of nausea washing over you. The need to go to the bathroom increased exponentially with every wave, and so you tried to sit up once more, ignoring him completely as you tried to stand up from the bed. “I’m going to puke.”

Another sigh, and you were hoisted up.

**~~~**

The rest of the day was spent in relative silence.

The first day in the house had been much like this, but you couldn’t keep yourself silent for days on end, so before long you started asking things, getting bare-boned answers and then proceeding to basically just say whatever yourself. When the topics were far away from the entire kidnapping thing and the abilities thing, you had found him to be quite fun to talk to.

This time though, you had enough to think about and therefore didn’t really want to talk.

The painkillers had worn off a little bit, still allowing you to be painfree, yet without the nausea they had initially caused. There was still a slight headache, but apart from that you were now fine.

After getting you to the bathroom, Chrollo had left you there, only returning thirty minutes later to see how you were doing. In complete silence, you’d followed him downstairs and eaten a few bites. Afterward, you both sat down in the living room, where he grabbed a book in a language you didn’t recognize, and you just stared away.

You’d have liked to say you were thinking heavily on the whole ‘thief’ matter, but your mind was really blanking.

How did one respond to something like that? He had literally admitted to doing awful things, things that went against the entirety of your moral compass, but a part of you felt hypocritical for suddenly judging him. You had been on the brink of forgiving him for kidnapping and drugging you, and you already knew murder wasn’t away from his comfort zone through his threats, so why did you suddenly feel so conflicted?

Chrollo didn’t really initiate any conversation, but seemed quite annoyed at you for not starting them, following your every move through the room with a silent expectation that wasn’t going to be met.

After about an hour of silence, he shut his book. “I apologize for the way I treated you today.”

“You also stitched my wound and carried me to the bathroom, so I guess I can forgive all that.” You said, before catching yourself. Were you seriously already forgiving the man? You had to be a bit tougher than this! He had to know you wouldn’t just let him walk all over you just because he was _handsome and nice and sweet and smiled at you and-_ “Just… don’t drug me again. Two times is enough.”

He laughed and your entire chest warmed up. “I’ll remember it.”

“And also… when you go steal or whatever… can I go home?” You weren’t in the mood for debating the ethical complications of his occupation, nor the moral ramifications of basically just ignoring the entire matter. You didn’t want to remember the faces of the family of your co-worker.

All you could really think off was getting home and just passing out. You missed your friends, your family and even your work. Boring as it had been sometimes, life back home was just that: home. And when you wanted to think about why you could just feel yourself falling in love with someone that kidnapped you, you wanted to do that at home.

“Can’t really do that, I’m afraid.” Chrollo said, a mild pity present in his expression, though it looked a tad fake. “You are labelled as missing, so if you return now, there will be quite a few people wanting to know where you’ve been all this time.”

“Does that matter to you?”

“It does.” He once again conjured the book, and your eyes were immediately drawn toward it. “I’ve quite the number of enemies, and I would rather not risk your safety.”

“Why would… Okay, no, I get it.” You frowned. “What if I just keep silent?”

“Still a risk.” He calmly held the book, not yet opening it. “I have a question for you, y/n.”

“Hmm?” 

You wanted to plead a bit more for him to let you go, but were also very curious what he wanted to ask you.

“These past few weeks. Have you in any way developed feelings toward me?” He opened the book, the pages moving seemingly unassisted, his gaze steadily on you. “I just realized some might consider being affiliated with the Phantom Troupe as a bit of a dealbreaker, and I wanted to see what your position is on this. I wouldn’t expect it, seeing as you are my soulmate, but just to be sure.”

“I-I don’t really know how to answer that.” By now, you were sure your face was quite red, the mere insinuation of soulmates and romance already enough to light up those hidden feelings in your chest. Nevertheless, you decided to be honest. “I don’t really know? It’s- it’s a bit complicated.”

“Mmmh.” The edges of his the man’s twitched upwards. “I’m not hearing a no?”

You kept silent.

He looked sideways toward the book in his hand, the page opened to a love-inducing ability he’d stolen just for the occasion, and watched it disappear in a poof. “That isn’t necessary then.”

He couldn’t believe how you had seemed so unaffected these past few weeks, barely responding to his attempts. Ever since meeting you, his entire body felt a pull toward you, his mind not far behind. 

The only explanation the leader of the Phantom Troupe had been able to accept so far was that the mastery of nen made the experience a bit more intense. With all things considered, It would all take a bit longer than he’d planned, but if he interpreted your reddened cheeks and fumbling hands correctly, it wouldn’t take you long before you succumbed to the thread in between the two of you. 

The Phantom Troupe still held his life, but you were definitely not insignificantto its leader.

You were destined for him, a fated and utterly unavoidable thing. He hadn’t expected it to take such a hold on him, but he guessed that was to be expected.

He wasn’t an exception to the rule, and neither were you.


	12. Silva

“I suppose you must be y/n l/n.” A hushed honey-sweet voice came out of the woman in front of you, though you would be deaf if you didn’t notice the contempt underlying her words. “It is _such_ a pleasure to meet you.”

The woman looked very elegant, and you would’ve called her beautiful if her entire face hadn’t been covered by bandages and a visor. The dot in the middle of the device trembling yet firmly focused on you. The two of you were sitting opposite of one another, you wearing some simple attire and her in a complete ballgown. The entire room was filled with silver, gold and bejewelled furniture, cementing the fact in your mind that the Zoldycks, as they were apparently called, were very loaded.

You felt so out of place.

Being the soulmate of a married man was already an awkward occasion, but Kikyo Zoldyck didn’t make it easy for you.

The moment you’d sat in front of her, you already felt like a home breaker, even though the mansion didn’t much feel like a home to begin with.

When Silva had approached you a few weeks ago, your name sprawled across his back, and his on yours, you’d even been willing to let it all go. The notion of soulmates had always appealed to you, but you also didn’t mind not having one, dreading the complications of such a heavy commitment and relationship.

The silver-haired man hadn’t agreed, even going so far as stating his wife wouldn’t mind, something you severely doubted.

Why couldn’t you have been rude?

You wouldn’t be sitting in front of his wife if you’d been.

After a lot of pressure, even from your surroundings, you eventually agreed to at least visit. The trip hadn’t been too long, though you wanted to turn back at every stop. You’d been intercepted by a bunch of black cars on your way, a lot of people in suits suddenly insisting to bring you the rest of the way. In that car, surrounded by said people in suits, you’d wondered if there could be anything more awkward and tense than that car-ride.

Of course, it could! Sitting in front of the wife of your soulmate for example. 

She was still glaring beneath her visor, you were sure of it. She had done so from the moment you stepped out. The car had pulled up straight to the entrance of their mansion, a house larger than anything you’d ever seen, the windows also revealed that the feeling you’d been having of going up during the car ride was correct, the view revealing a vast estate and forest.

“I see you’ve finally come to wreck our family.” The sudden shift left you reeling, her voice turning from soft to outright shrill in mere seconds. “We have five children, you know. You will not come in between that. I know you think you can just waltz in here and ruin everything, but I will not allow that.”

You choked on nothing. While you’d been informed that he’d been married, a fact that had already made you hesitant to come, there had been no mention of children, let alone _five_.

“I was invited?” You said, a tad unsure of yourself, your mind still reeling with the entire ‘ _children’_ thing. By now you really wanted to leave. “If it’s really that upsetting, I can leave.”

“This is _not_ upsetting me. I am merely stating the facts.” The high tone of her voice didn’t exactly make her seem unaffected, clearly just as upset as she looked. “But it would be preferable if you left. It would be in the benefit of everyone.”

“Already uninviting our guest?” A new voice entered the room, and as you turned to face the presence, you relaxed a little bit. The new man was a complete stranger, but he seemed a lot more stable than the woman in front of you, saving you from the horrifying conversation. He was an elder man, white hair familiar enough to let you conclude him to be family of your soulmate.

“I was not informed of this.” Kikyo rebutted, her visor shooting between the new presence and you. “I would have never allowed such a… such a _harlot_ to enter the premises. I don’t know what you are all planning, but I will not stand for it.”

You wanted to interrupt her, stating that her approval had literally been the one demand you’d made in return for your visit, but she didn’t seem like the type that would listen to you.

Despite the circumstances affecting you quite directly, you felt yourself dissociate into another universe, wanting to be anywhere but here. Had this not been exactly why you didn’t want a soulmate? The drama was already stressing you out.

“-And she isn’t even listening! This has to be a mistake.” She shrilly added, pulling you out of your blissful daydream. “How can something like this be his soulmate?”

You didn’t want to actively dislike the woman, sympathizing heavily with her plight, but she was making it pretty hard with all the insulting you right to your face

“Calm down. It isn’t your place to make such decisions.” The elder man turned to you, scoffing at your uncomfortable and zoned-out expression. “Miss, if you would follow me.”

Standing up, you nodded toward Kikyo as a greeting, before following the man. You were highly uncomfortable, and for a moment you froze, feeling outright hostility behind you. As soon as the elder man looked back with a glare, it was gone, and you resumed your walk.

“Sorry for causing trouble.” You said with a sigh as soon as the door was closed behind you, wanting to somewhat alleviate the tense air. “I was under the impression she had agreed to the visit.”

“Don’t worry about things like that.” He sighed as well. “You’ll get used to her.”

“’M just visiting though.” You mumbled. It didn’t seem anyone was really listening to you. “Uhhh... It’s nice to meet you though?”

Another scoff, though this one accompanied by a short laugh. “It’s nice to meet you too. My son has waited for you for quite some time.”

“Aha.” You didn’t know what to say.

Several people passed the two of you, all of them deeply bowing as the man passed them. He stopped in front of two large doors, again sighing as he turned to face you.

“Wait here.” Still a bit out of it, you nodded, standing still in front of the doors. The elder man, whose name you hadn’t caught, moved on, his hands clasped behind his back as he walked on. Your eyes drawled around, eventually focussing on a fly that was buzzing around. It was nice that even in the biggest, most expensive mansion you’d ever seen, they weren’t immune to pests flying around.

The doors opened, and as they creaked, you looked through the entrance to see who’d opened them, only to be met with a dark hallway. You looked around, unsure if you were meant to wait or go in, but curiosity eventually forced you to saunter through the dark hall. Big portraits of white-haired people graced the hall, though barely lit.

At the end, another door, but just like the previous ones, it opened without your interference.

A large hall opened before your eyes, though you immediately halted in your step, your eyes falling on a monstrosity of an animal laying chained in one corner. It was looking at you, foam collecting on its teeth, which were large enough to tear you apart in one go. You’d never seen a beast like this, but as it was staying in one place, your eyes slowly wandered through the rest of the room.

And in the middle of the hall, on large white pillows that seemed more like a throne than anything, he sat. The dim, purple light that seemed to be flowing through the room made him seem much more intimidating than when he had stood in front of your house, though you hadn’t been completely at ease then either.

“Come here.”

You shifted your weight, again completely unsure how to act. On the one hand, disobeying felt like a _bad_ idea, but why would you need to fear him? Was it not smarter to stay clear of the dog, or at least ask why he’d invited you here? Did you need to listen to your gut feeling, or to your intellect begging you to ask what was going on?

“Hmm.” You responded, every part of your mind brainstorming for an actual response. You had no idea what kind of person your soulmate was, besides your initial stoic introduction, so you didn’t really know how he’d respond to anything you’d do or say. “Can I choose to… not do that?”

It was silent for a while.

“Of course, but come a bit closer so we don’t have to raise our voices.” That seemed okay. You took a few steps, eyes steady on the beast to see if it’d move, but with its boss having dismissed it, its interest wasn’t even slightly on you anymore. You now stood close enough to make steady eye-contact, yet far enough to still feel a bit control.

Though you weren’t sure if you really had control, or if Silva was merely humouring you.

“Met your wife.” You said, putting your hands in your pocket. “She’s… nice.”

“She isn’t your concern.” He replied sternly, and you could nearly feel yourself flinch with the force behind the statement. You’d even tried to be casual, but even the mention of his wife from you seemed to anger him. Noted. “I’ll deal with her.”

You hummed in response. “What do you want from me? I’m honestly a bit unsure. You seem to have a pretty good set-up here, and I’m honestly not really interested in interfering with any of this, especially considering the entire… children situation. I think, uh, I should go soon.”

The atmosphere got a tad heavier, though you were unsure how, seeing as your palms already felt sweaty from the sheer anxiety this room brought. It even felt like an actual weight on your shoulders, pushing you down. “Come here.”

This time the command didn’t feel the slightest bit optional, and so you tentatively walked closer, up until you stood as close as you dared, at the foot of the soft throne. From up close, you only got more anxious, his gaze heavier than anything you’d ever encountered and his form so much bigger than yours.

“Its tradition to keep soulmates close.” His hand reached out to your frozen form, grasping yours. “There are plenty of abilities that abuse the connection, so you could see this as more of an insurance. In return for your service, I’ll make sure you want for nothing.”

His eyes, till then focused on your hand in his, flickered up to meet yours, and you froze. “I don’t expect you to understand this, but you’ll stay here for the foreseeable future.”

“But… This was a visit?” You replied meekly, sounding childish even to your own ears.

“Yes, a regrettable lie.” Pulling you toward him, you fell forward and you were suddenly nestled in the arms of the patriarch. “You’ll come to understand me. You are literally made to.”

“I-I… what?”

He didn’t respond to your babblings, keeping you in his arms. Excessive skin contact was known to quickly allow bonds to form, the soulmate connection solidifying every moment you spent in direct contact with him. Your mind would view him less as a threat with continued exposure, and to speed along the process, he would try not to be one to you.

Your eyes shot to and from and he could hear your heartbeat through your skin, all signs you were highly distressed. It took a half an hour of relative silence, but you calmed down, now more confused than distressed. Another half an hour and you were relaxing against his chest.

“So I’ll be locked up.” You whispered eventually, finally comfortable and calm enough to talk again.

“You will be free to roam the estate.”

“I see.”

“You will not remain unattended, y/n.” He stated, his voice casting through the hall. “I do not take the title of soulmate lightly.”

“So what? I’ll just be hanging out here while you and your family do whatever because… _abilities?_ ” Your heartbeat was increasing again, though the clearest sign of distress were the tears welling up in your eyes. “What does that even mean? I’ll just be alone and away from everything I’ve ever known over something I don’t even understand?”

“You won’t be alone.” One of his hands moved to the top of your stomach, which made you tense up immediately. “My wife is necessary for the continuation of the Zoldyck line, soulmates often not strong enough to carry worthy children. For your sake, though-”

His tone was softer than before.

“-I’ll give you _your own family_.”


	13. Hisoka (different au)

You didn’t know whether you were lucky or unlucky.

The odds of being soulmates with a nen-user where slim to none, the ordinary population far outnumbering the profession. You’d expected to switch with some safe, normal guy or gal, someone who would be a sorely needed anchor of normalcy against all the insanity you went through on a daily basis.

From the moment you awoke in this new body, you knew this man was a nen-user, the nodes feeling as open as yours.

Being a nen-user, they would probably test out your ability, so you were _so_ glad you’d thought of moving to a safe house you never used before the switch. Sometimes normal soulmates discovered the use of nen while switched, so you hadn’t wanted to risk the destruction of your apartment. Seeing as that risk just shifted from moderate to certain, you could only pat yourself on the back, your stuff surviving another day.

But the safe house was fucked.

Your ability would make sure of that if he decided to use it.

You traced his features softly, yellow eyes gazing back in the mirror, following your motions with a curiosity that was definitely yours. He had sharp features and was conventionally attractive, though the make-up and striking red hair were not as conventional. A finger slowly went over the blue tear drawn under the right eye, checking whether it would smear.

He apparently used good products, as the make-up only slightly shifted shape when you did so. Not wanting to completely ruin his work, you stopped rubbing, lazily investigating the now blue spot on his finger.

You sighed, a sound that sounded far more dramatic then you’d intentioned.

In the back of your mind, you wondered what this man (who looked _strangely f_ amiliar) was doing in your body. You’d laid out some notes, asking them politely not to run around, and stay inside.

Was he blowing up the safe house? Tracing your features like you were doing? A quick look to a nearby clock revealed that only fifteen minutes had passed, so anything was possible.

He hadn’t exactly prepared for you though, no notes or anything strewn about. You’d awoken standing in front of the mirror half-naked, meaning he’d either intended for you to see his face and chest first thing, or he’d forgotten the entire switch altogether.

You didn’t know which was worse.

Deciding to look around a bit, you stepped out the bathroom a bit awkwardly, his legs taking some getting used to. Normal furniture greeted you, and you didn’t really know where to look, everything seeming both important and completely pedestrian.

Turning a corner, a sudden sight caught your eye, and you felt the blood drain out of your/his face. It was a mirror, which was nothing special by itself, but you hadn’t looked at his body from this angle.

Was that… _Was that a fucking spider tattoo?_

Of course. Of course you couldn’t have a normal soulmate like everybody else. You had to have a genocidal criminal with an A-list bounty, because why the fuck not. In your exasperation you looked away for a few moments, only to meet eyes with someone else.

“What’s the matter, Hisoka.” A man stood in the middle of the apartment, long black hair and eyes emptier than void. His eccentric fashion matched the one of your soulmate, though the colour scheme was darker. You hadn’t been paying attention, and his aura shot up out of nowhere, surprising you. “Why have you returned when you are clearly not ready? Or do you wish to do the mission without a shirt.”

Hisoka.

You already hated him.

“Yeah… I’m not Hisoka.” You flashed the man the date engraved on his wrist, and for a moment you could see the man’s eyes turn from completely empty, to just a tad emptier. “I think he forgot the date.”

“He did not.” The man replied, rather exasperatedly. “This is rather annoying. I needed him to distract the target.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“It’s only an hour, but I don’t have that time. You’ll need to come with me at the least.” Tilting his head slightly, he studied your form slightly. “You do not move like someone without combat experience.”

“I _am_ a hunter.” You replied, not really caring if this man knew that much about you. “But I am not going to help in an assassination just because you need me to.”

“I’ll transfer the amount I promised Hisoka to your account.”

“And how much was that?”

When he named the amount, you choked slightly, your mind with ideas of what you could do with that much money. You weren’t necessarily materialistic, but anyone had dreams that one billion yen could easily help achieve. At the very least, you could go out for one legendary evening.

“And who did you say you were?”

“Huh? Oh. My name is Illumi Zoldyck.” _Of course_ it was.

By now it wasn’t anymore about the money, though the sum certainly wasn’t forgotten. This motherfucker put you in a sticky situation, probably wanting to see how you’d handle it, so why wouldn’t you just handle it?

This spider, Zoldyck-associating piece of trash thought he could just play you like that while probably chilling in your body during. You weren’t the vengeful type, _per se._

But he’d regret this.

“Mmmh. Well, I guess I can’t die right now.” You stood up, a bright smile on your face, which according to the slight narrowing of his eyes and raised brows, clearly unsettled the other man greatly. Grabbing a nearby pen and piece of paper, you scribbled down one of your many accounts and handed it over. He quickly entered something on his phone, but you didn’t really care anymore. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

He put his phone away and instead pulled out a couple of pins. “Our target lives about ten floors below us, and while I could easily reach them by myself, I do not feel like fighting a nen-user while surrounded by all his guards. Are you capable of creating a large enough distraction to lure away about ten guards? Killing them is probably easiest.”

You laughed, and again the assassin in front of you seemed awfully uncomfortable with you, probably unused to your facial expressions on his associate. “Sure!”

And that took care of the rest of the hour, time flying as you did just that, distracting a whole group of guards by violently attacking them. You made sure to dodge a few blows a tad too late, not wanting Hisoka to find his own body as flawless as he left it. If he wanted to put you on the spot,you would make him pay.

You laughed maniacally when you switched back, reeling to a halt as soon as you noticed you’d gone back. With a bit of an awkward giggle, you calmed down, feeling a bit put off by your own behaviour.

That had been… messy.

Even with the awkwardness of switching bodies, your reflexes had switched over quite quickly, his body not unaccustomed to combat. You regretted not using his hatsu at any point, but throwing in unknown elements in the middle of beating down guard after guard was not a very good idea. The target had been disposed of easily, and for a second you doubted if the assassin had actually required Hisoka’s help at all, or if it had been one big trick.

Didn’t really matter. 

As you quickly scrambled to your phone, you saw the money had been successfully transferred, and you couldn’t deny yourself a high-pitched noise of excitement. 

While any impression of your soulmate was horrid, at least you got something good out of this: the money and a good story to tell the next time you went out.

Suddenly your gaze shot up from the device.

What had he done while in your body?

You sat on your bed, the exact same place you’d laid down on minutes before the switch. Sitting up, you didn’t see anything out of place in the room. Every item laid just as you had left it, even the notes you left still piled neatly on your desk. You stood up, pacing through the room.

After finding nothing of interest, you moved on through the safe house. The living room and kitchen were just as untouched.

Another round of going through the safe house, but no corpses or notes hidden somewhere. He also clearly hadn’t gone outside, the locks just as closed as you’d left them, not forced open like you’d expected.

You were at wits end, when you suddenly felt a soft stinging on your chest. Frowning, you looked down, only to feel stupid as the entire upper part of your shirt was stained with blood. How had you missed that? You wondered why you didn’t really _feel_ any pain at all.

Your pain threshold was high, but not even noticing a wound on your own body was sloppy. The mystery was solved when you walked into your bathroom, a stray bottle of painkillers opened on the sink.

Besides the pills, there was another big hint that he’d been here.

He’d drawn a big heart with lipstick on your mirror, a gesture you would’ve found sweet if you wouldn’t have known the artist was a maniacal spider.

Your hands weren’t clean, by no standards if your recent assassination job was anything to go by, but you had standards. Kids were off-limits, innocent bystanders were off-limits, fucking genocide and mass slaughter _was off-limits_. You weren’t innocent, but by god did you have standards.

Guys like your soulmate didn’t live by the same limitations.

Standing in the middle of the heart, you planned to check out the wound, the blood seeping through your shirt making it quite obvious. Throwing your shirt in a corner, your eyes moved up to check how badly he’d wounded you.

Wha-

_Oh, you’d kill him._

Most definitely.

Etched in the upper right corner of your chest, he’d etched his own name into your skin, shallow enough to be harmless, yet deep enough to scar. You could just imagine him, standing in front of the mirror, so self-satisfied as he used your own fingernails to carve his name into you.

His handwriting was neatly done, despite having used your fingernails as pen, the last ‘a’ even curling off into a heart.

The utter fucking _creep_. You didn’t know much about him, but one thing was sure: when you’d meet him in person, you would absolutely _bash his fucking face in with-_

Your phone rang, disturbing the increasingly violent thoughts swirling around in your head. You let go of the sink, your fingers having etched themselves into the marble during your realisation. As you deliberatively moved toward the phone, you breathed heavily, internally screaming anytime you caught a glimpse of your chest through reflections.

You picked up the phone. “Hello.”

_“Did you enjoy your present?”_

“I’m going to kill you.” You hung up.

The phone rang again immediately and for some reason, you picked up again, probably because you feared he would keep calling if you didn’t. “Stop calling.”

_“You certainly went a bit… wild here.”_ He chuckled softly, the sound grating in your ears. _“Wild enough to forget you really shouldn’t give out bank numbers to assassins, Minke.”_

So he knew your name, was that a problem? Nah, plenty of people knew your name. “Do you actually want to say something worthwhile? I’m kinda busy spending all that bad-decision-assassin-money, after all.”

_“Oh~? What are you going to buy?”_

You were about to respond, a snide remark just waiting to be said, but for some reason, you shut up instead, pointedly looking in front of you. Something was off about this, the question way too casual and idle. Was he stalling? Your senses _certainly_ told you he was stalling.

In a sudden burst of realization, you hung up again, pressing the button with more panic and force than you’d intended.

He was tracing the fucking call.

“Goddamnit!” You yelled, grabbing a nearby pillow to scream in it. 

How could you be so stupid so consistently? You’d just been curious and pissed, the slight ache on your chest making you more furious than you’d ever been in your life, but when did you get this sloppy? This was outrageous.

Throwing away the phone, moving away and going dark were all options, but if he was good enough for the spider, he was certainly good enough to find you.

You also didn’t want to run away, the image of meeting him head-on and punching that self-satisfied grin off his face much more alluring.

Your phone beeped again, and despite the voice in your head telling you to throw away the phone in the nearest lake, you took a swift peek. The message was quite short, but as soon as you read it, you felt fired up.

_‘See you soon <3’_


	14. Silva Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thanks to all morallygreyismyfavoritecolour for shouting this collection out on tiktok :) appreciate it.

“Do you even love me?” You quietly asked one morning, sitting opposite from him while he was eating. He wasn’t often with you anymore, but he still often took the time from his day to join you for breakfast. The comment was made as a joke, a reply to him saying he’d leave for another week to tend to familial business, but to your own surprise, the words had left your mouth sounding rather serious.

The white-haired patriarch put down his glass of water, raising one eyebrow in slight indignation.

“Do you feel uncared for?” He questioned back, leaning forward. Your words died in your throat, and you didn’t really feel like starting this age-old fight right now. The weather was nice and you had a new book to read, there was no reason for your mood to be soured.

Your status as mistress had been solidified pretty quickly after your arrival, the butlers respectful but also looking down on you on behalf of the real matriarch of the house, who still hadn’t stopped with her visits to belittle you. Your soulmate didn’t necessarily approve of his wife’s actions, but took no real action to stop her either.

It was a miracle you were still alive with that woman on the premises.

That tidbit was exactly why this discussion flared up every now and then. You had begun to feel the pull of the soulmate bond almost immediately after your arrival, your body and mind betraying you every time he turned that intense and cold gaze your way, but the patriarch didn’t seem to be as affected.

He clearly enjoyed appearing in your bed every now and then, and he dutifully spent some mornings with you like this one, but most of your interactions seemed to be rather forced from his side, his responsibilities to his wife always triumphing over whatever he felt for you.

“Nevermind.” You said, eating the last of your eggs. “Forget it.”

He stood up from his seat, seemingly taking your dismissal of his question as enough conversation for today. He strode past you to leave, tracing his hand over your shoulder for a few seconds, right where his name was etched into your skin.

“You are truly a fool if you doubt such things.” Silva Zoldyck snapped, and for the first time since you met him, there was anger in his voice. When you’d overstepped boundaries or even that time you’d tried to leave, there had been irritation, but never anger. You immediately tensed. “I have _no choice_ but to love you.”


End file.
